The Best Laid Plans
by Ah Hael
Summary: Aang has been waiting four long years to be old enough to propose to Katara. So how did he end up married to Toph? Taang, Soki, eventual Zutara.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Best laid plans

Author: Ah Hael

Genre: Romance

Rating: Mature

Pairings: Aang/Toph, Sokka/Suki, with Zuko/Katara towards the end

Spoilers: Sokka's sword maybe

Summary: The day Aang has waited for has finally come. He's finally old enough to propose to Katara, but circumstances get in his way and he ends up married to Toph instead.

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. I checked, definitely not mine.

The Best Laid Plans – Chapter 1

Aang carefully rechecked his packs and belongings making triple sure that he hadn't forgotten anything. He wanted everything to be perfect for this trip. He felt like he had been planning it for years.

Four years, to be more precise. He was finally of the age to legally propose to and marry Katara. There were times that waiting had been torture waiting, wondering if Katara would wait for him.

Admittedly, he'd been a nervous wreck the past two years since she had reached marriageable age. There had been a nonstop stream of suitors for 'The Great Master Waterbender Katara' as she was now known.

Since Ozai's defeat, there had been dozens of supposed true accounts of their travels and the battle that ended the hundred year war. With each retelling, the story became more fantastical and outlandish.

Some versions made it sound like he could have used his Avatar powers to just simply drop the entire fire nation into the ocean, wash off all the nasty fire nation citizens, and then pull it back out clean. Like washing buckfleas off of Momo. According to some, it was only his noble dedication to pacifism allowed him to spare the king's life and his citizens.

Sokka was elevated from brave, but goofy warrior to proud and fearless Sokka of the Blacksword or sometimes even General Blacksword. And Katara… well… no matter what version, all accounts agreed on two points.

The first was that she was the most powerful waterbender alive and the second was that only thing that surpassed her power was her beauty. Aang already knew she was beautiful. He didn't need texts to tell him that she had a face that was 'as delicate and lovely as the rare snow lotus flower' or that she had 'beauty rivaled the stars and moon'. He didn't need to others to tell him how pretty she was but with publicity like that, there was no end to the marriage offers for Katara. Thankfully, she or her father or brother calmly rejected them all.

Now it was finally his time to shine. He would have asked her sooner when he turned sixteen a few months ago but peace keeping duties kept him and his friends on opposite sides of the globe. It was only now that the annual summit in Ba Sing Se was approaching that their schedules coincided. And once they were all together he would propose to Katara.

The Young Avatar allowed himself a small daydream picturing how Katara would leap into his arms with a huge grin on her face when she accepted. Then they and the rest of their little family could celebrate.

The only problem was one of their family was missing.

At first no one thought anything was wrong. The war had ended, and the first year had drifted by in a blur of appearances, summits and a never ending sea of faces. He couldn't even remember half of the things he'd done, or the people he'd met. He's spent most of the time being the centre of attention while he tried his best not to squirm while faceless people heaped praise, awards and titles that he didn't really want or felt he deserved.

Toph was no different, by her thirteenth birthday she carried the titles Lady Be Fong, Master Earthbender Toph and General Be Fong. All of them fully recognizable in the new history texts of any nation. The blind girl could walk into any town, in any country, use any of those names and be recognized. Everyone could all tell that her parents were less than thrilled about their daughter's achievements, but they seemed to take it in stride.

The second year after the war was still pretty busy so no one really noticed that communication with the earthbender had significantly dropped off. When a letter did arrive it was filled with very un-Toph like words. Certainly due to her blindness, she couldn't write letters on her own, but after a while anyone who knew Toph could tell that it was more than a scribe trying to take some of the edge off of Toph's more abrasive qualities. The letters were filled with nonsense about dresses, and parties. Things Toph wouldn't want anything to do with much less write about. That was when Aang started to really worry.

When everyone else was together at last year's summit they started comparing notes and realized that she hadn't been truly in touch with any of them for over a year. Even more alarming was that none of them had even seen her in person since the first summit, just after the war.

After that revelation, their little gang made several more serious attempts to get into contact with her. They wrote twice as many letters to Toph and they tried to politely arrange time with her parents that would be convenient to visit. When those failed, Aang, Sokka and Suki had all made attempts to just pop in unexpectedly but were refused because Toph was unavailable or too ill.

Initially, the rejections were polite, but firm refusals, after a while though they became distinctly less polite and more firm, in the past two months, the rejections had crossed over the boundary from rude into openly hostile.

By now they had all had enough of polite attempts and had agreed to meet three weeks before the summit at the Be Fong residence. They had even managed to get the earth kings to send an official letter advising them that a representative was going to visit them. One way or another, they were going to see Toph and they were going to get to the bottom of her disappearance.

Appa landed just after lunch time and Aang wondered if any of the others had arrived yet. They may not have had to travel as far as he did, but he was also the only one flying.

His question was answered when he air bent himself down from Appa only to have Suki barrel into him and crush him in a raccoonbear hug.

"Aang! You're here!" she yelled happily in greeting then pulled back allowing him to breathe. "Wow you've gotten taller! I think you may be as tall as Sokka now."

"Who's as tall as me?" asked the unmistakable droll tones of a certain goofball warrior turned General. "Oh sure I turn my back for one minute and you're already in the arms of another man." Sokka walked up and mock glared at his new bride before turning to look at Aang. The Avatar was surprised to find that he could look his friend directly in the eyes now. Even Sokka looked shocked. "Wow Aang she's right, you really did grow. How can you grow that much when you don't eat any meat?"

Aang just smiled warmly at one of his closest and dearest friends before grabbing him in a hug. "I kept telling you that you should eat more vegetables. It's good to see both of you. Is Katara here yet?"

Suki nodded "She's resting. She only arrived an hour before you did, but apparently she has been travelling all night to make it on time."

"So then we are all ready to do this?" Aang asked them.

Both of his friends nodded this time "We can do it tonight if you want." Sokka added not bothering to hide his worry from his face or his tone. Ever since their last letters threatening to arrest them if they set foot anywhere near the Be Fong estate they had all been very worried.

"I'll be ready." He agreed.

None of them were foolish enough to think that they would be allowed to freely pass though the gates, but they weren't expecting an armed response either. As their luck would have it, their names and descriptions had been distributed to just about everyone in town and the Be Fongs had left standing instructions to be informed immediately if either of them showed up in town.

The captain of the guard gave them a haughty look. "I advise you to turn around and go back the way you came. You have already been told that you are not welcome here."

By previous agreement the friends had decided to allow Sokka to be their spokesperson. "Stand down soldier or risk treason."

The captain seemed a little taken aback but recovered quickly. "Treason? I hardly think that protecting the Lord and Lady's precious daughter from the people who kidnapped and took advantage of her qualifies as treason. If anything, it is you that should be arrested."

Aang grit his teeth at the insult. The guard (and therefore Toph's parents) had made it sound like they had been engaging in something lewd and inappropriate instead of fighting a war. Righteous fury on Toph's behalf wanted to bubble out of him but he reined it in knowing he could never help his friend if he lost his temper.

Sokka scowled darkly at the guard. "Have a care what you insinuate soldier, Toph is like a sister to me and if you continue to speak like that I cannot guarantee your continued health. Now I believe the Be Fongs have already received notice of our arrival from the earth king and have been ordered to meet with us."

"Nonsense! The king said a representative was coming! He mentioned nothing about the Avatar or his companions!"

"We are the representatives." Sokka glared at him coldly. The captain of the guard looked a little less sure of himself and Aang watched his expressions flit across his face while he tried to find a reason not to admit them. Finally, he cast a suspicious glare at them.

"Which king are you representing?" he asked as if hoping to catch them in a lie.

"Both actually." And Sokka pulled out the official gold seals of Omashu and Ba Sing Se. "Now are you going to let us in or are we going to have to arrest you for treason?"

The guard's shoulders slumped a little in defeat. The seals were like a direct order from the king. If they wanted to, have the entire town arrested they could with the authority those seals afforded them. Aang hated being forced to into such a move but it was the guard's own fault for not listening to them in the first place.

The garrison was kind enough to escort them to the house where they had to go through almost the same scene with the steward. Another flash of gold seals and they were told quite bluntly that they would have to wait as the lord and lady had a dinner guest.

By now Aang had reached his limit and he spoke up. "Oh that's all right; we already know where it is. Don't we guys?" he said jovially, but none of his friends missed the steely glint in his eyes. Without waiting for permission, or having to listen to another carefully disguised insult, he made a beeline for the dinning room. Behind him he heard the others rushing to catch up. Without waiting for them or for someone to warn Toph's parents, he barged in.

The dinning room was exactly as he remembered it. Mr. and Mrs. Be Fong were sitting in exactly the same spots as the first time he was here. There were three other people present. One very large, very wealthy looking middle aged man who was probably a merchant or a noble himself given the amount of jewelry he was covered in. Across from him was a pretty young woman sitting demurely and next to her was a very thin old woman with several parchments spread out before her.

It was only after a double take that Aang realized what he was looking at and even then his senses didn't want to believe it.

"What have you done to her?" he yelled at the people sitting at the table.


	2. Chapter 2

The Best Laid Plans – Chapter 2

"What have you done to her?" he yelled at the people sitting at the table. Ignoring the way his friends tried to avoid colliding into him while he was still blocking the doorway.

Stepping into the room he couldn't take his gaze off of the pretty young woman sitting at the table completely silent with her eyes downcast. She looked like a life sized china doll. Her eyes were so downcast that he'd almost missed it at first, but the closer he got to her, the clearer he could see the telltale milky green color.

"Toph!" Katara cried from behind him. The young healer shoved past him and ran to her friend's side with Suki following closely on her heels.

Only now that he knew Toph was safe in Katara's hands did Aang pull his gaze away. Toph's father was now standing at the end of the table, his face contorted in rage an turning an alarming shade of purple.

"How dare you come here? Guards! Arrest these trespassers!" the man waited for a moment clearly expecting the drumming of running feet. "Guards!" he called again then looked at his unwanted guests. "What did you do to my guards?"

"Nothing." Sokka answered smoothly. "Your guards know they can't help you now," the water tribesman pulled out the kings' gold seals again "these give us the right to speak with you without them interrupting. Your little dinner party is over."

Aang was about to start demanding answers but Suki stopped him "Are these what I think they are?" the Kyoshi warrior asked to no one in particular while looking at the parchments on the table. Peering closer, she shot the old woman, the fat man and Toph's parents foul looks. "Matchmaker contracts? You're trying to marry her off? To this man?" she asked nodding towards the jewel encased fat man that was almost as old as her father.

The fat man blustered at the warrior woman's tone and the old woman who Aang guessed was the matchmaker; cast an appraising eye on the newcomers. The young avatar didn't like the look one bit. It was the kind of look that Azula or Zhao would give. That 'how can I use these people to my advantage' look.

Aang's hold on his temper slipped a bit more at the thought of these people dictating Toph's life for her. He took another look at the earthbender who had remained silent the entire time he'd been in the room. That in itself was suspicious. He had no idea what her parents had done to her but they were not going to continue.

"The match is off. Toph is coming with us." he stated bluntly looking at the four adults at the table.

The old matchmaker spoke up in her reed thin voice while waggling a gnarled and wrinkled finger at him "Ah, ah, ah young man. The Be Fongs are well within their rights to arrange a marriage for their daughter. And those seals have no authority over parents selecting the best future for their child."

"The best future?" Sokka spluttered.

Aang looked at Suki "Is that true? Is there nothing we can do?"

Suki, who knew her nation's laws better than any of them nodded bitterly. "I'm afraid it is. Many noble families hire matchmakers who will sort through a list of candidates and select what they feel will be the best match. A king or even a king's representative can only encourage one candidate over another. Anything more would be considered meddling in a family's private affairs."

The old matchmaker and Toph's parents looked victorious while her soon to be betrothed appeared clueless. Or disinterested. It was difficult to tell. The heavy man must have had some sort of mind in order to be successful enough to afford all of the gaudy glitter he'd decorated himself in, but at the moment he didn't even seem to be following the conversation. It was almost as if he'd broken off from the conversation and only wanted to know if he was supposed to be married when it was over.

The thought of this overdressed, overstuffed goatpig marrying Toph, even touching Toph made him want to throw up. Still he had to know "Do you even want to be married to Toph?" he asked the man.

The fat man gave him a dazed look reinforcing the impression that he was not paying attention to the events around him. "I have been without a wife for almost two years now and I find children and households function much smoother with a woman's delicate touch. Truthfully, I did find her blindness a bit of a concern but her parents assure me that she should still be able to perform her duties adequately."

"Adequately?" Aang asked his fists were clenched tightly at his side shaking in his effort not to something violent to the moron. "Do you even know who _General_ Be Fong is?" he asked stressing Toph's military and therefore least feminine title. "Or how about _Master_ Earthbender Toph?"

"Well of course I've heard the stories about how the General traveled…" the fat man trailed off dazed and looked at each one of his friends a little closer. "You're the Avatar?" he asked in a small voice.

Aang let the rage he was holding onto so tightly slip just enough to breach the avatar state and start his arrow and eyes glowing. It was a terrible gamble for him to reach the state through emotion rather than meditation, as he had very little control over it when he was emotional. As it was, he was far too angry to meditate and he needed immediate results.

"I advise you to withdraw your suit." He told the fat man. The glowing eyes and arrow had made a definite impression on the man. He was shaking so badly his jewelry was clattering. The Avatar didn't bother with him any further; instead Aang put a stranglehold on his emotions and dropped out of the avatar state.

"Katara?"

His friend and healer looked at him gravely. "It's bad Aang. They have drugged her with something, but I don't recognize what it is. It's completely blocked her chi flow and she is barely aware. I don't think she even knows the rest of us are in the room." The master waterbender glared darkly at Toph's parents before going on.

"Whatever it is, they have been giving it to her for a while now because it's in every system of her body. I can extract enough to make her lucid, but it will take time for her body to purge it completely. That doesn't even cover the possibility that it is addictive. We have to get her out of here."

Aang glared at the matchmaker "You, it is your job to find the most suitable candidate for your client?" The old woman nodded. Her dragonhawk like eyes watched him like a fat prey.

The avatar took a deep breath and let it out. The action did nothing to calm his emotions. He didn't want to do this. He really didn't want to do this. Why was his life full of paths that he didn't want to take? Hadn't he given enough to the universe? Hadn't he earned the right to some happiness?

He looked glumly over at the waterbender and the earthbender. Katara's lovely face was deep in concentration as she tried to fix the broken little china doll next to her. The airbender memorized all of the details of her face and allowed himself to look at her one last time with his vision clouded with youthful dreams before he let them go. _Goodbye Katara_ he thought remorsefully.

With the last traces of his childhood dreams laid to rest, he braced himself for his new path. "I submit myself as a candidate and humbly request Toph Be Fong's hand in marriage."

tbc


	3. Chapter 3

The Best Laid Plans – Chapter 3

"I submit myself as a candidate and humbly request Toph Be Fong's hand in marriage." He announced, standing up to his full height, his eyes not looking at anyone else in the room.

The room erupted in a riot of exclamations.

"What?"

"Aang?"

"Interesting."

"Out of the question!"

"Are you crazy?"

When the initial clamor calmed down Toph's father spoke first. "Even if you were sincere – which I doubt you are- you would hardly qualify as the most suitable candidate for my daughter."

Sokka managed to pick his jaw back up from the floor quick enough to back Aang up. "And why wouldn't he be suitable? He is the Avatar."

"My daughter is a lady of noble birth and she has been raised as such. Avatar or not, he is still first and foremost a penniless monk whose only possessions are a flying bison, a flea ridden lemur and some ruined air temples. Toph was meant for greater than that." Aang ignored the insult. Instead Sokka took up his defense again.

"Actually sir you would be incorrect. You see, a lot of people were quite happy that Aang ended the war and were eager to reward him. After the first Ba Sing Se summit, he could have demanded all the gold and jewels he wanted but his real wish was to try and revive the air nomads.

"The other nations agreed to his wishes thinking it would eventually restore balance to the world. He was given the old air temples along with as sizable plots of farm land around them and enough financial backing to get them started and keep them going until they become self sufficient."

Since the war's end, Aang had been approached by almost two dozen people that had solid claims to air ancestry. Apparently some air nomads had escaped and became refugees in the earth nation hiding amongst their people. Aang was thrilled to find them, but with a three to four generation gap, not one of them had any bending ability.

If Toph's father was supposed to be impressed by Sokka's words, he failed miserably. Instead he seemed more furious. "You want _my daughter_ to take care of some refugee riff raff? Unthinkable!"

Behind him, Aang heard the near silent footsteps at the door only a moment before the new comer spoke up.

"I apologize for being late." The crown prince of the fire nation said softly as he entered the room.

"Zuko!" Aang and Katara exclaimed almost in sync while Sokka was more direct.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

The fire prince's eyes scanned the room pausing slightly on Toph and widening slightly at her new appearance before moving on. Aang looked up at the prince and was only a little surprised that even after his growth spurt he was still almost a head shorter than the prince. Oh well, Aang still had some growing left in him to catch up to Zuko. As for poor Sokka… well, he was just going to have to deal with being shorter.

"I was in Omashu the other day and the king told me of your plans. Uncle Iroh adored Toph; she was almost like family to him. He would have wanted me to come to support her." Again his eyes scanned the room this time stopping on Toph for several heartbeats. Clearly taking in the normally raucous earthbender's doll-like state. "What exactly is happening here?"

The young avatar didn't answer. Instead he thought up an idea to change the minds of the Be Fongs. "Sokka, I have to fly back to the inn to get something. Can you update Zuko? Katara, see what you can do for Toph right now. I will be right back. You," he said looking at the fat man who would have married Toph if they hadn't intervened "you're coming with me." He ordered and grabbed him by several necklaces forcibly dragging him from the chair.

The man continued to stumble behind him until they reached the grounds outside. "You don't actually mean for me to fly do you?" the man asked in a small squeaking voice causing Aang to snort in disgust. He didn't bother to wonder about his unreasonable dislike for the man. It seemed that everything about him irritated Aang. The avatar bit down on the urge to tell the man that he was too fat to fly

"Hardly, I assume you arrived here by carriage?" when the man nodded, flabby jowls trembling at the motion. Aang called to the house steward to get the man's carriage ready. "I will meet you back here in a few moments." He said allowing it to sound more like a threat than a promise.

Opening up his glider, he flew off to the inn as fast as the air would carry him. He even used his airbending to dash to his room and collect the carefully cloth wrapped bundle he'd hidden in his packs as well as a small bag of gold coins.

By the time he'd returned the fat man was almost wetting himself while waiting in his carriage. Getting in the cab and taking the seat across from him, Aang opened up the cloth bundle and extracted the items inside. "I need every green jewel you have." He told the man simply.

"What?"

Pulling out the delicately braided gold collar he used his earthbending skill to gently pry the blue gem from the centre. "I want to replace all of these blue stones with green ones. You can either have the blue ones as payment, or I can just give you this bag of gold."

Despite his fear of Aang, the man's business sense managed to break though his fear because his face lost its look of sweating terror and was replaced with one of cold calculation. Before he fool could even try to say anything, Aang glared at him "Don't even _think_ of trying to negotiate with me. With those gold seals I could just take them as taxes for Bumi and then buy them from him. Actually, since he's an old friend, he would probably just give them to me as a gift." He added knowing that Bumi would support him in his idea.

Apparently the merchant wasn't as dumb as he seemed an sped off with the bag of gold leaving Aang with over a dozen bright green gems to add to Katara's… correction, Toph's betrothal jewelry.

Like the water tribes, air nomads exchanged jewelry pieces to denote betrothal or engagement, but unlike them they did not traditionally give the choker style necklaces favored by the water tribe. To air nomads, air was life and was meant to flow freely so a constricting choker at the neck, the body's source of flowing air, was unheard of. Usually, they would give a string of beads that would be worn loosely around the wrist or neck. The problem with loose beads is that it would have interfered with Katara's waterbending.

In the end, Aang chose to make something independent of both cultures while trying to respect both. The avatar used a combination of earthbending and firebending to craft a collar, wrist cuffs, a ring, and even earrings made out of carefully woven gold with blue stones embedded in each of them.

Knowing that he didn't have much time, he stood in the light of the house's foyer and quickly removed the blue stones replacing them with the best green ones from the assortment he had before pocketing everything and returning to the dinning hall.

The matchmaker was still there waiting and Zuko was sitting at the table being served tea. As Aang entered, he could hear the prince talking to Toph's parents.

"I urge you to consider the Avatar's offer to wed the _General_." Aang heard the way Zuko put extra emphasis on Toph's military title. "As the prince and future ruler of the fire nation it would be in my power to help… _expedite_ certain trading contracts in fire nation territory."

By the way Toph's father was bristling; Aang could tell he picked up on what Zuko wasn't saying. _'I can just as easily make it so you can't __do any business__ anywhere near our territory.'_

On the end of that note, Aang placed his bundle on the table and unwrapped it exposing the jewelry for all to see. There were a few exclamations but Aang ignored them opting to check on his soon to be fiancé.

"How is she?" he asked Katara quietly noticing that the waterbender's eyes looked a little glassy like she was trying her best not to cry.

"She seems to be coming around a bit but… oh Aang! Look at her feet!" she whispered urgently.

Grey eyes were instantly drawn to the hem of the young blind woman's dress. Gone were the sturdy bare feet he remembered. In their place were feet that looked impossibly small for even Toph's petite frame. Aang could see the indentations of the tight binding cloth strips through the embroidered slippers. The bands were so tightly bound that her toes looked like they were painfully folded in on themselves. It would be a wonder if she could still walk.

Wind started blowing violently around the room from no open door or window. The people in the room instinctively shielded their faces as loose objects including the teapot, cups, wedding contracts and Toph's engagement jewelry started to move on their own.

Aang had not been this angry in years. They'd taken everything that made Toph, Toph. Her vibrant personality, her tendency to speak her mind, her outrageous sense of humor and they took away her special sight. Katara and Sokka were yelling at him, but he ignored them. He felt the avatar state approaching and forcibly stopped it. He was far too angry to control it right now. Still the pent up emotion needed a release and Aang was not surprised to find tears leaking down his cheeks.

He regarded the Be Fong's coldly. "You will accept my betrothal to Toph or I will use every resource at my disposal to ruin you until you do."

"How dare you order me to-" Toph's father raged but Aang cut him off.

"ENOUGH! For what you have done to your own daughter, you have no more rights! Now, Katara and Suki will stay with Toph tonight and see to healing her. Tomorrow at noon we will hold the wedding ceremony and by tomorrow evening _I will be leaving with my wife._ Is that clear?" Without waiting for anyone to agree or say anything, he left and was not surprised to find Sokka and Zuko close on his heels.

"Hey Aang, you okay buddy?" Asked Sokka

"No." he hissed between clenched teeth still stalking towards the gate. Unexpectedly, he whirled on the two men behind him. "Did you see what they did to her?" he yelled at them. "Not only did they drug her into submission, they bound her feet!"

Whipping away from them he stomped his foot heavily on the ground and shot himself into the air on a rock pillar. A second stomp sent several rocks flying up at him which he destroyed using successive fire and air blasts.

When that wasn't enough, he sent an enormous fire blast into the night sky followed by a tornado. The result was a swirling vortex of fire that he sent crashing down on the very pillar he was standing on turning it to rubble.

Panting heavily, he stared at the ground in front of his feet trying to regain his calm. Slowly, the young avatar felt his anger drain out of him, making him feel hollow. When Sokka put a hand on his shoulder, he flinched.

Reaching into his robes he pulled out the blue gems that were once a part of Katara's betrothal jewelry. "Here Sokka, take these and make something nice for Suki."

Sokka eyed the blue stones. Sokka was a lot of things, but dumb wasn't one of them. He easily put two and two together and figured out who the jewelry was originally made for "Sure buddy. Now are you feeling better or did you want to help the Be Fongs redecorate still? 'Cause I was thinking a pool would be nice right over there, maybe with a waterfall ooh, and a slide!"

As it had so many times in the past, Sokka's bizarre and quirky sarcasm managed to make him smile for the first time since coming to the estate. "Thanks Sokka."

"Any time buddy. Come on, we should try and get some sleep. After all you're getting married tomorrow!"

That caused Aang to stop dead in his tracks. Now that they weren't being blocked by anger, the night's events suddenly hit him like an avalanche. "What have I done?" he yelled into the night, his eyes looking wild. "I'm marrying Toph! She's going to kill me!"

tbc


	4. Chapter 4

AN: **Thank you everyone for the reviews!** I love hearing from you! I would like to mention to a few of you with concerns over the shortness or quick pace of the chapters. Unfortunately, this will probably be the status quo.

In the past I used to write huge chapters but I just don't have that kind of time now. What I can write down in the little computer time I have is what you get. If I drew it out, this story would never get done. I know this from experience because I have several unfinished stories and I shudder to think what my readers of those stories would do to me if they found out I was using what little time I have to write this one. You won't tell on me will you? bats eyelashes

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The Best Laid Plans – Chapter 4

"I'm marrying Toph! She's going to kill me!" cried the avatar while clutching his head with both hands. If he had hair he would have been pulling it out by the roots.

Next to him, Sokka was caught between wanting to wince and trying not to snicker at the mental picture of what Toph would do to Aang once she was able to think clearly.

Silently Zuko walked closer to the pair and leaned in close. "As interesting as this conversation is, I don't think we should be having it here." He murmured only loud enough for the two of them to hear. As one the pair looked up to find the entire household and the guards all gaping at them. If the various looks of shock and fear were anything to go by, most of them had witnessed Aang's little tantrum in the estate garden.

Trying his best to look casual, Aang spoke up in an unnaturally loud voice "Uh… yeah… better get back to the inn! Got to get some sleep! Got a big day tomorrow!" he announced while shuffling out the gate awkwardly. By the time they reached the inn however, Aang was back to clutching his head and moaning.

"I'm dead, I'm dead, I am so dead." He whimpered to the ceiling of his suite. "Stop laughing Sokka! It's not funny! She's going to kill me slow and _painfully_!"

"Well, I don't think she will _kill you_. Just maybe maim you a little." Sokka paused a moment then said "Well, maybe a lot. But I've got your back man!"

"Thanks." Aang said dryly.

Zuko quietly cleared his throat. In all his panicking, Aang didn't notice that the prince had followed them all the way upstairs and into his room. "If you knew she was going to react so violently, then why did you ask to marry her?"

"I don't know what happened! When I saw that they were going to marry her off to that… that…" he stuttered trying to find an accurate description.

"Fat hogmonkey?" Sokka suggested.

"Yes!" he cried agreeing wholeheartedly. "When I saw that, I just lost it! Toph could never be happy married to someone like him! And you!" he turned and yelled at Zuko. "What was wrong with you that you couldn't have shown up a few minutes earlier?" "You could have offered yourself her husband instead!"

The fire prince grimaced "I don't think that I would have made a better candidate than the fat hogmonkey." He answered quietly. "From what I remember of her, the General liked her freedom and life as my wife in the fire court would be anything but free. If anything it would be more constricting than what her parents had planned for her."

Aang sighed, Zuko was right Toph would want her freedom and although she would still have many duties as the Avatar's wife, she would al least be allowed some freedom. "How could they treat her this way? How can they think this is in Toph's best interest?"

"All parents have hopes and dreams for their children and they don't always coincide with who their children actually are. Occasionally they can even become so blinded by their own vision of how their child should be that they take… drastic measures." Zuko said in his still quiet voice.

Aang noticed the way the prince touched his scarred face when he said the words 'drastic measures'. The move was reflexive and Aang was willing to bet that Zuko didn't even realize he'd done it. The avatar felt a twinge of sympathy for the prince.

Just like everyone else in the world, he'd heard the tale of how and who had scarred the would-be handsome prince. It was true that Aang wasn't raised by parents, but it was hard for him to imagine such cruelty, much less to a family member. He would never be able to understand the motivations of the fire lord or Toph's parents to hurt their children because they didn't conform to the parents' ideals.

Zuko shook himself from his contemplative state. "I was meaning to ask, what the significance of foot binding meant. I thought I was familiar with most foreign customs but that one…"

Sokka shook his head at the prince. "It has nothing to do with customs and everything to do with Toph." He explained, "You see, Toph uses her earthbending to see with her feet."

Aang picked up the explanation from there. "The vibrations in the earth pass through her feet and can tell her when someone is approaching miles before a sighted person would detect them. It can even tell her when someone is sick or lying."

"A handy skill. No wonder the fire nation was never able to sneak up on you. So even if she was somehow able to free herself from the drug, with her feet bound…"

"She would be unable to see or escape." Aang finished darkly. The airbender resisted the temptation to lose his temper again. That wouldn't help anyone. Instead he chose to retire for the night. Sokka was right, tomorrow was a big day and Aang was going to need all of his strength to convince Toph to go along with his plan and not to kill him.

* * *

The next morning didn't go at all like Aang expected. It wasn't that he expected to just walk in, say a few vows and leave, but it didn't have to be quite the circus that it turned out to be.

He was awoken obscenely early by a servant from the Be Fong estate who peppered him with questions about air nomads, his holdings how many people were under his care, his plans for the future and such.

Before he even left, a maid showed up asking specifically about air bender women of all things. She finished by asking a few questions about wedding customs, leaving before his eyes were fully open. Even the sun wasn't up yet! What was with these people?

His head was pounding from his outburst the day before and he was seriously tempted to go back to bed, but he ordered some tea and bread to be sent up to his room instead.

This turned out to be a good thing because no sooner did his breakfast arrive than a man wearing fire nation clothing showed up to do a fitting.

"Fitting?" he asked stupidly massaging his temples. "Fitting for what?"

"Prince Zuko has had me working all night on your formal wedding attire." The man said testily.

"But I was just going to wear-"

"You can't just go about wearing your everyday clothes to your wedding!" the man sounded positively scandalized. "The whole town and surrounding region will be there!"

"The whole town?" Aang groaned feeling his headache throb.

The young groom endured his fitting. At least Zuko had at least done his homework. The robes were in airbender colors and the style was fairly close to what his people would wear if a bit more fancy and ornate. Then again, with the way the tailor fussed, Aang was willing to bet that improvements like the gold trim were a reflection of the man sticking pins in him rather than Zuko.

Sokka came in later looking mightily annoyed. It seemed the water tribe general wasn't immune to the poking and prodding. That or he was still put out about being separated from his wife. "What is with these people? They woke me before the sun was even fully up!" he grumbled mirroring Aang's complaint.

"I have no idea." Aang agreed while trying to drink his now tepid herbal tea. He hoped that it would get rid of his headache before the next person knocked on his door. When the predicted knock came before he was even to the bottom of his cup, he whimpered.

A man who claimed he was the cook for the wedding guests came by and promptly went into fits when Aang told him he didn't eat meat. Sokka easily diverted the man agreeing that yes, meat was essential to any good diet, and yes Aang did have some peculiar notions and then he offered a few suggestions to appease Aang's fussy eating habits while cleverly escorting him out of the room with a quick wink to Aang.

Aang snuck in a quick wash from the room's basin before Zuko showed up with the matchmaker of all people. The heir to the fire nation had also been up since well before dawn arguing on his behalf regarding the marriage contracts.

"That was really kind of you Zuko, but I really don't care about Toph's money. She can keep it and do what she wants with it." He said tiredly. He really didn't care what Toph did with her money. They had been fine without it before, they could do so again.

Zuko raised his good eyebrow "Well then you wouldn't have minded that they were demanding a percentage of any profits from your budding air nation? You wouldn't mind that any possible children you had would be fostered to their grand parents?"

"WHAT?" he yelled and snatched the parchments from the matchmaker to look at them. "They can't do that can they?" they had better not be able to do that.

So that explained the servant that showed up before he was even awake. These people were unbelievable! The air nomads were his people, not some commodity to be profited on. And as for his children, his future in-laws could not be stupid enough to think he would let them anywhere near his children after seeing how they treated their daughter.

"They could if you didn't do anything." Zuko answered sagely.

"Thanks Zuko, I really owe you one. Two actually, if you count the clothes."

"Actually, I think we are about even now." He answered cryptically making Aang pause and wonder what the prince was referring to.

Aang reviewed and signed the documents trying not to blush at some of the very specific requirements of his marriage. If he thought too hard about time limits to consummate, or failures to perform or children too much he would lose his nerve.

Once the matchmaker had left, he quickly asked. "How so?" When Zuko looked at him puzzled, "How are we even?"

"You helped me secure my future as the fire lord. And you saved my father's life."

"Katara was the one who did that." Aang interrupted him but Zuko shook his head.

"But you were the one who brought her and convinced her. I was just helping to secure your future the way you secured mine." The prince answered before leaving to get ready.

The next thing Aang knew, he was being thrown into his wedding clothes and stuffed into a carriage with Sokka that was headed to the town's temple. The tailor's warnings didn't even begin to cover the sheer mass of bodies crammed into and around the temple. How could this many people show up with only half a day's warning? This was going to be a nightmare.

"Where's Toph?" he asked Sokka as he stepped out to the front entrance of the temple not seeing his fiancé anywhere. With the wall to wall bodies it would be impossible to spot her. Sokka was at a loss as well because wherever Toph was, so was his wife and sister.

The driver answered for him. "She comes in with her family after you do."

"But I need to talk to her!" He couldn't just marry her without talking to her first.

"Well I'm sorry son, but as soon as she leaves her carriage, the wedding has begun." The driver said, not looking the least bit sympathetic to his plight.

"What?" Aang gaped and the driver took that as his cue to drive away.

While he was still busy trying to find a way to talk to the bride, a man Aang didn't recognize tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me Mr. Avatar sir? Your place is this way." He said and made gestures for the groom to follow him. Just as Aang and the man that Aang assumed was a sage of the temple were almost to the other end of the temple he heard another carriage pull up. Turning around, he saw Suki stepping down from what had to be the largest carriage in town. Toph had to be there!

"Excuse me!" Aang blurted to the sage that was escorting him to his place and sped up to the carriage before Suki even had both feet on the ground. "I need to talk to Toph!" he whispered urgently.

The Kyoshi warrior blinked a little in surprise at the sudden appearance of the Avatar when there had been no one behind her a second before. Looking into his almost panicked face, she recovered quickly from the surprise and stepped aside and let him pass.

Toph was inside with her scandalized parents and Katara. The young avatar had to do another double take when he saw Toph again. The first time was because she looked like a lifeless doll.

Now it was because he'd come to the shocking conclusion that Toph had become a woman when he wasn't looking. She still looked like a doll and only a bit livelier than she was before, but this time he noticed there were some interesting curves that weren't there four years ago.

He mentally slapped himself and tried not to be distracted. He didn't have time for such thoughts. Ignoring the grumblings of Toph's parents, he kneeled in front of her "Toph, hey Toph?" the woman before him didn't answer so he tried again "Toph? It's me Aang."

His bride turned to him bleary eyed like she was just waking up "Twinkle toes? Izzat yuu? Sundweard." she slurred. translation: Is that you? You sound weird

Aang looked at Katara in askance.

"It was the best I could do for now. They've been giving her a boiled down extract of the same cactus the Sokka drank from that time in the desert so it should wear off as time passes. I thought it was more important to heal her feet instead." She explained tiredly, showing just how much energy it took to fix the earthbender's feet.

Aang's eyes dropped and he was pleased to see ten pale little toes peeking out from the hem of Toph's skirt. Her feet were slimmer than he remembered and completely devoid of calluses, they were going to be uncomfortable to walk on for a while, but at least they looked like something a person could walk on.

He turned back to the earthbender, "Yeah Toph, it's me. Listen I don't know how much anyone has explained to you, but your parents hired a matchmaker for you to marry you off."

Toph gave him a sleepy but alarmed look "They what? No. Don wanna g marrid." She slurred again. Don't want to get married

"I know you don't, but I found another solution to you just marrying some man that doesn't know or care about you." he explained quickly. Outside the crowd started to sound like a buzzing hive of vulturewasps. He had better hurry before they started to get restless.

"M'kay." She nodded and her chin just kept going lower and lower until it was almost on her chest.

"Toph please, I need you to focus." He told her gripping her shoulders and forcing her to raise her head. "I will get us both through this but you have to trust me that this is the only way. I promise I will take care of you."

The earthbender nodded her head slowly "A'right. Aang? 'M tired."

"I know. I'll let you sleep all you want after we are done. Do you trust me?"

"Uh huh." She nodded her movements sluggish.

"Good." On instinct he leaned over and pressed his lips to her forehead. He had no idea what compelled him to kiss her, and it was weird to acknowledge that he was going to have to get used to kissing his wife sooner or later.

It felt nice though. Strange but nice.

As soon as he pulled back he sped back to where he was before. The people around him were giving him a variety of weird looks. "Okay I'm good now!" he said to no one in particular.

The wedding was a surprisingly painless affair. The only one who had to really speak was the temple sage while he and Toph knelt before him. Aang let the man's words drone on while he used the time to steal glances at the young woman he'd agreed to marry.

Looking at her, he saw that she was wearing her engagement jewelry and it looked like her servants had tried to style her hair with airbender esthetics in mind. They had left her now very long hair spilling down her back tied only with an ornate clip that sat between her shoulder blades similar to the way air nomad women would wear their hair.

Her wedding outfit consisted of the typical earth nation long tunic, but instead of the usual green, Toph's was white with cherry blossoms embroidered on the edges. The cuffs were trimmed in dark green to match her long skirt.

It made her look quite pretty. Was he imagining it, or did they make that top fit more snugly to her body than necessary? Those curves that he noticed before seemed to stand out a very distracting way.

On more than a few occasions he felt his eyes stray inappropriately to certain areas. It was hard to reconcile this woman with the same girl who used to scare the living daylights out of him when they were training.

Especially since she was still silent. He hated to admit it, but it would have felt better if she were raising hell or hitting him for staring rather than looking like she was asleep with her eyes open. At least then he would not have felt like he was sitting next to an imposter or marrying a total stranger.

He was even more alarmed to find that she really was asleep.

Partway through the wedding feast, she keeled over slightly. Only quick reflexes on his part kept her from landing face first in her dinner. With his arm wrapped around her, Toph took that as an invitation to fall asleep on his shoulder.

The move did not go unnoticed by the people around them. Aang tried to not to blush at the knowing looks from the wedding guests. If the situation was reversed, he would have thought they were a couple cuddling too. Only he was near enough to hear her snoring.

"Suki." He hissed out of the corner of his mouth trying to attract her attention discreetly. When the warrior didn't answer, "Suki!" he hissed louder. It didn't get her attention, but it did get Katara's who got Sokka who got Suki. As one they crowded the couple. So much for discreet.

"Aw isn't that just the cutest thing?" Sokka gushed sarcastically. Aang ignored him.

"How long do we have to stay here?" he asked.

"Why? Are you… ahem… in a hurry to leave?" he snickered. Heck, they were all snickering. He had at least hoped Katara wouldn't have laughed.

He rolled his eyes irritably "Will you stop now? She fell asleep on me." He explained crossly.

"She's asleep?" Katara asked, leaning over to examine her more closely. "Maybe you should take her back to your room. She should be far more coherent tomorrow."

Aang scooped up his sleeping wife and carried her out trying his best to pretend he wasn't blushing from the stares of almost the entire town populace.

In his room he felt even more awkward than he did when everyone was staring at him. He stared at her clothes and wondered if it would be appropriate to remove them so she could sleep more comfortably.

What was wrong with him? She was his wife right? Surely that entitled him to help her undress so why were his palms sweating? Still, she would well and truly kill him if he completely undressed her. Maybe he could just loosen the clothes and remove the jewelry.

The jewelry was easy enough, but the ring he'd created wouldn't budge. No matter, he ignored it figuring that it shouldn't interfere with her comfort. The tunic turned out to be a harder challenge. The silk knots ran from her right shoulder all the way down her right breast.

A few times he ended up brushing against her chest only to let go as if his hand had been burned. Then he'd wait for a few moments for the punch or slap he was sure he deserved. By the time he'd loosened her collar the he felt drained and shaky.

But now was the really hard part.

The bed in his suite… correction _their_ suite was wide enough for two people, but not so wide that they couldn't sleep without touching. He could sleep on the floor… oh for spirits' sake! _Stop acting like a little girl! You are supposed to be her husband!_ He chided himself then stopped to boggle aboutwhat he'd just thought.

He was married! He was there, he knew it, but until right now it didn't feel real.

Shouldn't he feel a lot more different than he did? His life had just undergone a major change and he felt like he was just the same person as he was two days ago. Why didn't he feel different? No, he didn't feel any different. He didn't feel like he'd gained access to the mysteries of the universe. If anything, he had just gained more questions.

Now that he was alone with her, he used the opportunity to take a closer look at his wife. It was still hard to reconcile the rough and tough tomboy with the lovely young woman lying next to him.

How much of her had changed? He hoped that when she freed herself from the cactus drug, that he would not find anything else that was too different. He kind of missed her straight up, in-your-face, direct manner. It had always been able to put a smile on his face. And a bruise on his arm.

He winced at the imagined punch she was going to give him when she was clear headed. _ Well__, if she's going to hit me anyways…_ he thought before removing everything but his pants and sliding under the covers with his new wife.

Tbc


	5. Chapter 5

The Best Laid Plans - Chapter 5

Aang woke up feeling warm. With his eyes still closed and his brain still half asleep, it took him a moment to process that his heat source didn't feel like Appa. It also didn't smell like him and it certainly didn't snore loud enough to rumble through his whole body.

Instead, his heat source was lumpy. Soft, but not with fur. Soft in the squishy sense and it felt very good pressed against him. It made him feel like he needed… something. Whatever the need was, his whole body hummed with it and he liked it.

Pulling himself closer, he inhaled the not-Appa scent. It was like a fresh flowers and grass just after the rain and he found himself rather liking that too. Because he was still in that half dream, half awake state, his dream shifted so he was lying in an open field of wild flowers on a hot sunny day.

That was nice for a while until he shifted again and the need was brought to focus as one particular part of him ended up pressed against something very warm and very soft causing his body throb very much.

It was enough to burn through the last layers of sleep and allow itself to be identified. _Oh, it's THAT need._ He'd had a few dreams like this before and he knew he had to wake up soon before he made and embarrassing mess.

Then the cause of his need sighed and moved.

The airbender woke up, sat up straight and leapt from the bed in one fluid move.

_Merciful saints! There__'s__ a beautiful woman in my bed!_ He thought with his heart pounding fiercely in his chest. Then he got a better look at the woman.

_No__ not a beautiful woman.__Toph. _His heart rate only slowed down a fraction.

_Although she does look beautiful. _Morning sun had filtered over her highlighting the sleepy flush to her pale cheeks and her black hair spilling out in all directions.

_She's my wife!_

Slowly like a line of turtleducklings trailing after their mother, his intellect and memories finally caught up to him. Even when they finally caught up, they did nothing to appease the inexplicable throbbing in his body.

_Bad body! Stop it! Down boy!_ He snapped at it while taking deep calming breaths. It was all Toph's fault for looking all warm and sleepy and… cute.

The commotion disturbed his bed mate.

"Muh? Wassat?" she murmured sleepily and Aang tried his best not to find her rumpled, disheveled state completely adorable. What the heck was wrong with him this morning? He no sooner lets Katara go then he's lusting after Toph? What was he some kind of pervert?

"Guard!" Toph yelled. "Where am I? What's going on?" that snapped him out of his haze. Didn't she remember anything of yesterday?

"It's me Toph."

The blind woman frowned at him until he took a few steps forward then her face dawned with recognition. "Twinkle toes?" she asked still sounding unsure.

"Yeah, it's me." He answered moving closer. A huge smile dawned on her face and she leapt off the bed at him hugging him tightly with her face in his chest. He had to shift his lower half quickly so anything below his waist wasn't in any contact with her. He didn't think she would appreciate finding that surprise. He was only lucky that the floors on second story were all wood or she would be well aware of big Aang's problem with little Aang.

She pulled back "You've come to rescue me! Wow, you've grown and your voice has changed!"

"Uhm, yeah." He responded dubiously.

"How did you get me out? Every time I tried to run away they caught me."

"Toph, how much do you remember?" he asked feeling ice pool in his gut.

She frowned a little "I don't know, it's kind of hard to remember. Why?"

This could be bad. How far back was her last clear memory? "What was the last thing you remember?"

"Trying to get out so I could go to Katara's sixteenth birthday. They shot me with something and I couldn't bend." Toph's face started looking more alarmed. "Why? What happened Aang?" she asked worried enough to use his correct name.

That was almost two and a half years ago. Cold fear crept from his gut through his bones scaring the last traces of lust. "How old are you Toph?"

The earthbender didn't bother to answer the question. Instead she ran her hands across herself. She touched her face, hair and body becoming more alarmed the more she touched. "What happened Aang?" she asked again in a tiny scared voice.

Anger surged through him followed closely by a wave of protectiveness. Without thinking, he gathered her into his arms and held her tight while she trembled. His tiny tough earthbender was terrified and it broke his heart.

Taking a deep steadying breath and explained briefly "In order to stop you from running away your parents drugged you. By the time we finally got to you, they had hired a matchmaker and were planning to marry you off to a man old enough to be your father."

"That means I'm…" She trailed off.

"You're sixteen Toph."

"How can I… when did… how come you waited so long to get me?" at first she her tone started out sad but her sadness quickly changed to anger. She shoved hard at his chest and he let her go. As soon as she had enough clearance, she drove her fist into his chest.

The punch was pathetic. It lacked the strength she used to have, but spending years in a drug induced stupor would do that to a person. Still with his guilt adding extra force, the punch was pretty effective at hurting him inside even if he barely felt it outside.

"Four years Aang! You left me to rot for four years! Two of which I don't even remember!" she yelled while tears poured down her face.

Gods, his guilt was threatening to choke him to death right then and he was temped to let it. He'd never felt so awful in his life. But it was the truth. Toph was a part of his family even before he married her he should have known something was wrong right away. _I should have done something sooner!_ He yelled at himself.

That was the real reason why he was so angry and hurt. He had abandoned one of his family. He wasn't worthy of being her friend much less her husband. He certainly had no business having any feelings for her like he did when they woke.

"You're right Toph," he whispered hoarsely "I started to suspect something was wrong about a year and a half after I'd last seen you, but with our schedules, and trying to keep the peace we created, I let myself believe you were fine. It wasn't until I found out that none of the others had seen you that we knew for sure that something was wrong."

He reached out to hug her again but she turned her back on him. The motion stung more than he expected it to.

"We started off nicely with letters and dropping by for visits, but your parents always refused us. We finally got desperate and had the earth kings intervene. If that didn't work we would have tore the place apart to steal you back." He watched his weeping bride he couldn't even imagine how traumatized she was. Her brave effort not to sob out loud tore at him.

"I'm sorry we took so long but I promise I will make it up to you. I will take care of you."

Her head snapped towards him and her lips tightened into a thin line. "You'll take care of me? What makes you think I want or even need you to take care of me?" she snarled. Her age old pride about people thinking she was helpless burst forth. A part of him was relived to see a bit of her old self, but another part was terrified.

He scooted back away from her a bit and was thankful again that the inn's floors were made of wood. "Woah! Not like that! I never thought you were helpless or anything! I just… well… I kinda agreed to take care of you from now on." _Come on Aang, spit it out. The longer you wait the worse it will be._

"What the hell do you mean by that?" she demanded stalking slowly towards him.

"Well you see…" he floundered trying to find a good way, a _safe way_ to tell her they were married. He couldn't find one.

"You see, legally we had no right to interfere with your parents or the match they made with the matchmaker –he was this old fat guy with lots of jewelry, you wouldn't have liked him- but we needed to get you out of there, so I… I kindaagreedtobeyourhusband!" he blurted.

"You _WHAT?_" she shrieked.

"We got married yesterday." He explained with a wince. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but now it just sounded dumb when he said it out loud.

The next seconds found the avatar bolting out the door with various projectiles following him. The floor may have been wood but the walls were still stone. After a few steps he bowled right into Sokka, Suki and Katara.

"Hey Aang how's married life so far?" Sokka joked. Aang didn't get to answer because a very angry looking Toph came stalking out of the room towards him. The avatar meeped and dove behind Sokka, using him as a shield.

The pair of young men had just enough time to duck in unison as a piece of masonry flew over their heads. "Told her huh?" Sokka asked dryly and Aang nodded frantically. "I'd say she's taking it rather well."

Before a another chunk of wall could be thrown their way Katara pulled water out of her water flask and restrained Toph's wrists and feet.

"Let me go Katara! I need to kill my husband!" the petite earthbender growled struggling viciously against her restraints.

"Toph calm down. You have been through a lot. I need to check how your feet are healing and to make sure that drug is out of your system."

Still bound and unable to do anything, Toph's slim shoulders slumped. "Why? Why did you guys wait so long to get me?" she asked in a tiny sad voice that broke Aang's heart all over again. "I thought we meant something to each other. I thought…"she broke off, her throat choking. "I thought… we were a family." She finished, sniffling.

Aang didn't bother looking at the others to know they had similar guilty expressions to his own. No longer caring if she beat him half to death with rocks, he rushed past Sokka and Katara to practically crush his wife in a hug. A heartbeat later, he felt other bodies colliding into and around his in a big group hug. More than Toph's sniffles could be heard.

"I'm sorry Toph." Katara sobbed quietly "I'm so sorry. You've always been like a sister to me and I let you down. I'm so very sorry."

"Yeah," Sokka agreed his voice thick with emotion. "You tell me if this husband of yours makes you miserable and I'll kick his ass."

Toph gave a watery laugh. "Am I really married?" when no one answered she asked, "Am I really sixteen?" and Aang felt the others collectively still. Apparently they had yet to realize the extent of what Toph's parents had done with her. They had effectively stolen two and a half years of her life.

No wonder she was mad. She had every right to be. Part of her life was stolen and then he barges in and 'saves' her by marrying her without any regard for her feelings on the matter. For all Aang knew the earthbender still had a little crush on Sokka like he'd had on Katara.

For someone who hated being considered helpless having all of her life decisions taken from her must have been devastating.

Suki was the one who broke the tension. "Come on, we should really get out of the hall before someone sees us."

The group reluctantly let go of one another in order to fit through the doorway. When the others had shuffled in Aang hung back in the doorway. No, he couldn't do this.

"No." he said out loud distracting everyone. He turned first to Sokka. "Sokka I need you to go downstairs and have some breakfast brought up for everyone. Katara, I need you to check Toph."

"I was planning to but-"

"Can you heal her and get her close to her old self?" he interrupted her, his eyes pleading with her to trust him. She must have seen something, because she grinned and nodded. "Right, I'm going to wash and change. I'll be back for breakfast."

Aang did exactly as he'd said. Washing and changing into his far more comfortable travelling clothes. Before he went back to his room however, he went to saddle Appa. "Wait here for me buddy. I'll be back soon."

Back in his room he was pleased to find that not only had they started breakfast, but they had also changed. Toph looked as lively as he'd ever seen her. Good.

As a group they were laughing about some story or another. With them all laughing it was hard to tell who was telling what.

"Twinkle toes!" Toph said happily and Aang felt his stomach give a little flip. He really had to get over his shock of seeing her as a beautiful woman.

Her black hair was still styled with a loose tieback that was between her shoulder blades. Maybe he should make her one of those headbands she likes to match her wedding jewelry. Thankfully she hadn't put any of it on. She still had the ring, but the rest wouldn't have been right for what he had in mind. She still had on her white wedding tunic but she changed from a skirt to green pants instead.

"Suki was just telling me about Sokka's proposal."

"I told him not to try to ride the Unagi." Aang remembered

"I was going for effect!" Sokka protested.

"Yeah, the effect of drowning for being an idiot." Toph said snidely before bursting into fits of giggles. It was good to hear her laugh again. Her laugh was what let him find her in the first place. It was as much a part of her as his arrow tattoos were to him.

"Aang are you hungry?" Katara asked looking at him.

The young avatar looked at Katara. It hadn't really been that long since he'd given up on her and it still hurt to look at her. Surprisingly though, it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. It hurt to be sure, and it might always hurt, but it was like he was forcing himself to get over her quickly. After all, he would rather cut open the wound and let it bleed freely than let uncomfortable awkwardness poison the relationship between them.

A part of him would always love Katara; it would just never be the kind of love he had planned. It could be a mother, sister, first love of a young boy kind of love but it would never be the love of a wife or lover.

He gazed at his diminutive but powerful wife and knew that if he let it, he could love her. Looking back at Katara, "No, I'll just take something to go."

"Go? Go where? Where are we going?" Sokka asked.

"No offense Sokka, but it's just going to be me on Toph."

Sokka grinned evilly. "Ah! Honeymoon!" He drawled knowingly and Aang felt he face and ears catch fire and refused to look at his wife. If he had he would have seen her smack Sokka in the head with the plate she was eating from.

"It's not what you think Sokka, Toph and I have some things we need to work out. Toph?" he asked stretching his hand out to her.

Toph crossed her arms under her breasts and stuck her nose in the air. "Humph, I'm not going anywhere. I didn't agree to anything. As far as I'm concerned we're not married."

"Well then this is perfect." He said with what he hoped sounded like enthusiasm. Truthfully, he was afraid his plan would blow up in his face.

"I can't undo our marriage even if I wanted to. By sunset today half of the world will know about our marriage, by tomorrow the whole world. At least my way you can have some say in what happens."

"What say? We are not married!"

"I challenge you to a bending battle. If I win, you have to accept that you are my wife." _And all that it implies._ He added silently not wanting to clue her in to several marriage contract requirements that they were expected to fulfill.

Toph stood up and turned her head towards him "Fine, I win and this stupid wedding didn't happen."

Aang didn't say anything. His wife was being foolish and stubborn if she thought people would let her forget that she was married to the Avatar.

It didn't really matter, because she was not going to win. He had no intention of giving up his wife like he had given up Katara. Still, he didn't want anyone to bear witness to her defeat. A calm resolution settled over him.

"Then let's go."

tbc


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you so very much for all of the reviews! Love you all! After I posted the last chapter I realized that I hadn't warned anyone that I was going away on vacation. But I'm back and I have an extra long chapter for you!

The Best Laid Plans – Chapter 6

Aang flew them to a spot he'd seen on his way flying in. Even though he hadn't had to sleep on the ground for quite some time his eyes still had a tendency to watch for good camping sites. He supposed that some old habits died hard. The area would have made a perfect location for if they were still traveling.

There was a large relatively flat area next to a lake. The trees were far enough back that if he had to use fire he wouldn't burn down the forest. Still, with a decent water supply, he could stop any disasters before they started.

Toph slid off of Appa and stalked several paces away from him before spinning to face him. "Alright, first things first. No avatar business." She stated.

"Alright, no avatar state." He agreed. As if he would ever use something like that on her.

"Earthbending only." She insisted.

He suppressed the urge to sigh. It wasn't like he wasn't expecting her to say it, but a part of him had been hoping she wouldn't have asked that. With just earthbending his chances of winning were only about fifty percent. Somehow he was going to have to find a way to win because he was not giving up his wife.

Even if he had to bend the rules slightly.

"That's not fair. You get to use your best bending skill and I don't?"

"Consider it payback for ditching me for four years."

Ouch that hurt. "Fine, I promise I will only use earthbending on you." he agreed reluctantly.

She grinned triumphantly. "I am going to pound you into the dirt." She promised, taking her initial stance.

"I don't know," he responded in a teasing voice "I've gotten pretty good since you last fought me and you have been asleep for the past few years. Sure you can keep up?"

It was extremely unwise to taunt the master earthbender, but he needed to keep her off balance if he was going to win. As expected, his wife grit her teeth and stomped her foot on the ground launching a rock javelin at him.

"Whoa! Hey! What are you trying to do? Kill me?" He dodged it easily but was a little surprised that she would start off with a potentially lethal attack. If that had hit him, at best it would have broken several bones.

He was so surprised by her attack he almost missed the boulder flying right at him. With his reflexes he managed to dodge most of the second attack, only getting hit in the shoulder. Still the sting was enough to temporarily numb his arm.

"Hey, you really are trying to kill me!" He declared somewhat hurt that she was attacking him in earnest.

"It would certainly solve the problem of our marriage!" she yelled while she ripped a bunch of rocks from the ground and launched them at him all at once.

Aang sent up a rock shield that barely held up to the projectiles. He reinforced his barrier, but she didn't let up on him. Every time he reinforced his defense she launched another offense keeping them at a stalemate for several minutes. "Being married to me can't be that bad can it?"

"Save it twinkle toes." She snapped while trying to open the earth underneath him.

The large slice in the ground widened and headed right for him forcing him to jump out of the way. Now he had his back facing the woods while she had her back to the water. As soon as he landed, he redirected the opening chasm towards her. She in turn, redirected it away from her towards the water with a graceful snapping flick of her arms. Amazingly she had somehow made the forceful earth bending move look sensuous rather than brutish.

Watching her, Aang was hit with an attack that had nothing to do with bending whatsoever.

He must have some sick fascination with beautiful, powerful women because as he watched his wife gracefully move into her next stance, he felt something inside him lurch uncomfortably.

With the sun shining down and making the water sparkle behind her, Toph poised for attack, her lovely features radiating stiff pride and determination. The combination of new womanly beauty with old Toph ferocity caused Aang to fall smack into heavy infatuation for the second time in his sixteen short years.

Of course, the smacking could be from the slab she hit him with from behind, making him fall face first into the dirt.

Quickly before she could pin him to the ground, he jumped up and out of reach of the bits of earth reaching up trying and grab him.

_That was close._ _I must remember to keep her off balance._ "What is wrong with being married to me?" he asked sending the boulder that hit him earlier her way. It was hard miss on purpose and not be obvious about it. He didn't want to hurt her, but he also knew she would be mad if he went easy on her. He almost sighed in relief when she caught it. "Do you like someone else?"

"Oh you're one to talk! Everyone knows you want to marry little miss sweetness!" she yelled, launching the boulder back at him forcing him to deflect it.

A heartbeat later she sent an exploding fissure at him forcing him to put up another barrier. In retaliation he launched a quake her way followed by a fissure of his own, though unlike hers, the rocks simply lifted out of the ground rather than shot at her.

She staggered a bit which sent alarms off in his head. Something was wrong. She never lost her footing.

Was she still drugged? Was her body wearing out? Worried, he threw the boulder from before back at her. When he did, she caught it and threw it back at him but her throw was off. The throw was soft enough for him to easily catch and hold the rock.

Something was throwing off her concentration that had nothing to do with the topic of conversation. Taking a quick look at her stance he noticed it wasn't as rooted as it should be. His eyes drifted down to her feet and saw she was standing on them a bit awkwardly.

He must have injured the soft soles of her feet with his fissure attack. _Stupid!_ He yelled at himself for not thinking. Normally she would laugh off an attack like that. Looking at her closer he also noticed that the earthbender was breathing heavier than he was. If he prolonged this fight, she would be too weak to bend. She might even hurt herself.

_Time to end this__I'm sorry Toph, I know this isn't fair of me to fight you when you're like this, but I can't loose you either._ "Isn't that what every man wants? To be married to a beautiful, strong, intelligent woman that makes him smile?" he taunted.

"Shut up!" she snapped sending another rock javelin at him which he dodged while still holding the rock she had thrown before. He was right; her fighting skills were getting weaker.

"A woman with a kind heart, fierce convictions and loyalty?" he continued while using earthbending to snap the boulder he held into to halves. He sent the first one at her as gently as he could.

"I said shut up!" she commanded. Instead of catching the rock, she sent it flying over her head causing it to land in the water. The force sent a wave splashing back at her, completely soaking her.

He couldn't help it, she looked so cute looking like a wet cat spitting with anger he started laughing. He was laughing so hard he almost dropped the second half of his boulder on his head.

"Hey!" she yelled. "We agreed only earthbending!

Gaining control of himself, "I… he, he… I… ha, I had nothing to do with it. Ha, ha, ha. You did that yourself sifu wife!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Why? You are both my sifu and my wife." He said casually, making her even madder. He didn't give her a chance to attack; instead he sent the boulder half he'd been holding towards her at a lower angle.

As he expected with her weakened state, she deflected it rather than breaking or catching it. She sent it behind her, but avoided the water splash by stopping at the water's edge.

"Just give it up already, go run off with your perfect waterbender!" She said, getting ready for his next attack.

"No." He answered, ignoring the sting her words gave him. He understood that she still believed that he wanted Katara and he was going to use that belief against her to win, but before they returned to the inn, he was going to make sure his wife understood that he cared for her as more than just friends.

He still couldn't figure how something like this could happen so quickly. One moment he was delirious over Katara, now Toph was making his stomach flutter. Did he always have feelings for the petite earthbender hidden under his feelings for Katara? Did it just take letting the waterbender go to realize them? Or maybe they needed those four years to mature?

One thing was for certain; her pull on him was very strong. Even though she was doing her best to hurt him, all he wanted to do was to take her into his arms and hold her.

"You are my wife." He told her a little more firmly than expected. "Everyone you see will know it." Aang grabbed the boulder that had just landed behind her and tried dragging it back towards her attacking her from behind and leaving a deep furrow in the ground while he was at it.

"Tell people I ran away or whatever you want but leave me out of this." she asked while demolishing his rock into gravel.

His wife stomped her foot causing the ground to quake. He barely managed to stay on his feet. "Why are you so determined to get out of this?" He asked neutrally, his attention on his next attack.

He sent a rock pillar at her while trying to extend the shallow trench behind her. The pillar forced her to dodge backwards a bit.

"Are you stupid? Who would want to be married to someone who is in love with someone else?" she ranted. "And you're stupid if you think you're going to make me fall in that hole you made behind me." She declared, letting him know that she could feel what he was doing behind her.

Behind her the trench he'd built was quickly filling with water. With a subtle flick of his wrist, he froze the water behind her while sending another fissure of sharp rocks at her sensitive feet. The earthbender stopped it with a stomp but he heard her let out the tiniest squeak of pain and caught the way she carefully favored her right foot. Both made him feel awful but he needed to press his advantage before she recovered. In rapid succession he created a quake and sent a rock javelin at her.

The quake caused her to loose her tenuous footing just enough so she couldn't block the javelin. Instead she was forced to dodge. When she stepped back she gasped the instant her foot hit ice.

Before she could do anything to protect herself, Aang sent another quake her way causing her to slip and fall into the earth claws he'd prepared to pin her with.

He watched her struggle helplessly. Spread eagle as she was, she couldn't move properly to bend.

"Cheater! You used waterbending!" She hissed at him.

"I said I would only use earthbending on you and I have." He announced cheerfully, pleased that he'd won without having to hurt her.

"Oh and this ice just appeared out of nowhere?" she said acidly.

"No I put it there. I never said I wouldn't use other bending. I said I would only use earth bending on you." She clearly objected to the technical loophole but it didn't matter. He was going to keep his win and for some reason he couldn't stop grinning.

"What are you so happy about? You know this means is that you would be stuck with me for the rest of your life." She grumbled trying to wriggle her hands to touch the rock.

"That's what I want." He answered clearly.

"Yeah right," she snorted bitterly "maybe if I was a great and beautiful master waterbender, or acted like everyone's mom…" she trailed off as if she had just realized she had said too much.

Was she really so insecure? Aang didn't flatter himself to hope that he was the cause of her insecurities. He seriously doubted that she had kept some secret affection for him hidden away all this time. No, this felt like an old complaint.

His wife may have been asleep for the past two and a half years, but even before that she was in Katara's shadow when it came to looks. Katara was like a blooming flower where Toph was barely a bud. Katara drew attention from others just by being in the room. Toph forced others to pay attention to her.

Why didn't he notice it before? Being such a gifted with earthbender, her confidence just shone through when she was fighting. He never noticed her lack of confidence in being a girl.

He wasn't any good with flattery or poetry he probably couldn't say the words that she needed to hear properly, but he would try anyway. "Toph, don't you know how incredible you are?"

Toph stopped struggling and focused her attention on him. Her mouth fell open into a little 'O'.

"You are smart, and strong, and funny and being really, really pretty doesn't hurt either." He knelt down next to her with his leg brushing her side.

"I'm blind, what do I care what I look like?" she mumbled with a sulky tone.

"You care," he stated, knowing he was right. "Because your parents always cared what others thought, a part of you does too. You worry about others accepting you, but you shouldn't because you _are_ incredible and beautiful. And… I have… strong feelings for you."

"You don't mean that." She whispered trying without much success to pull away from him.

"I think I might be falling in love with you."

"Stop it." She pleaded hoarsely. Kneeling next to her he could see her pulse beating rapidly at her throat.

"No." He leaned the rest of the way in to kiss her. She allowed it for a moment but then she regained her senses and started struggling against him.

"Stop saying that." She almost begged "You don't love me."

_My poor, tough, earthbender, how can I make you understand? _He quickly let the earth holding her go while rolling onto his back and pulling her with him. The move left her straddled rather nicely on top of him, but he figured it would be a bit early to remind her of marital duties.

Grabbing her hand he placed it on the ground next to his head. "I'm telling you I'm falling for you. Now tell me, am I lying?"

While his wife was busy feeling the vibrations in the earth Aang gave into the impulse to touch her. He ran his fingers along her face and through her hair. She was so perfect. He hadn't said he loved her yet, only that he was falling and yet something inside of him told him he was rapidly reaching the point of no return.

"You love me?" she asked in a tiny voice.

He smiled not bothering to clarify himself.

A shy smile flickered across her face before she punched him square in the chest. "You jerk! You could have just said something sooner and saved us all the trouble!"

He rubbed his sternum smiling at her affectionately. He just knew she would hit him. "I could have, but a part of me still felt guilty for leaving you as long as I did. I guess I felt I owed you a chance to beat me up a bit."

She punched him hard in the shoulder then leaned down and kissed him.

tbc


	7. Chapter 7

Wow! I reached 100 reviews! You guys rock! Thank you again for your feedback I love it! Now for those of you who have anxiously been wondering what's going on in Toph's head, your wish has been granted.

The Best Laid Plans – Chapter 7

Toph wasn't just adrift in a sea of confusion. She was drowning in it. It was sweeping over her, pulling her under and stealing all the air she needed to breathe. She had fought armies, commanded the respect of kings, was the strongest among her earthbending peers, and she couldn't remember being as frightened as she was now.

She had awoken from a two and a half year –make that four year- nightmare into someone else's body and life. Nothing was as it should be. _She_ wasn't as she should be.

When she had first awoken to Aang this morning she had initially been thrilled, but the moment she leapt out of bed at him she suspected something was wrong. Her feet were killing her and her balance was way off. It was like her body wasn't even hers anymore.

It was a good thing her first instinct was to go in for a hug because she almost face planted into his chest and she needed the grip on him to keep herself up. Aside from her center of balance being further away from the ground than she remembered, she now had hair, breasts and hips that she didn't remember growing.

The changes in Aang she could understand. After all, she hadn't seen him in a few years, but nobody expected themselves to change overnight.

Only, it wasn't overnight. It was over two years.

For the space of a few heartbeats she screamed silently in the depths of her mind trying to deny what her senses were telling her. She flitted through memories of dozens of arguments between her and her parents looking for answers. When? Why? How could they do this to her? What happened to make them change so much? Where was the turning point? Could she have done something different?

She had lost so much time, missed so many important changes. She had missed puberty and chasing boys and all of those countless other awkward teen moments. They had all been stolen from her. Worse, she was beset with the urge to throw up every time she thought about what could have happened if Aang had not shown up. She could have been married to some strange man with him doing saints knew what to her.

For the sake of her own sanity she pushed the all of the questions about her parents' betrayal into a small room in her mind and slammed the door shut. She would deal with her parents when she was ready. Right now it was just too big for her to handle and she was too confused. For right now there were other problems that she could tackle. Problems like her marriage.

During their battle Toph assessed the changes in Aang. One thing was certain. He was no longer a little boy anymore. He'd changed both in body and strength. She was well aware that he was going easy on her, but under it she could feel that he was more confident of himself and his power. He was becoming the man –the Avatar- that he was meant to be.

As much as he had been her friend in the past, a part of her still saw him as her student. In the past he was her earthbending inferior. Now she wasn't so certain. Now he radiated the kind of power and strength that made Toph uncertain she could win if they were both fighting at their full strength.

Fortunately for her there was no hostility blended with all of that power. If there was anything else that she could feel from him, it was… warmth. Even while she was trying to hurt him, he was making her feel warm and safe. It comforted her and kept her from losing her mind. With every attack a part of her was screaming inside. _Save me Aang. Please._

It was only stubbornness about letting anyone see her weak that kept her silent. Well, that and anger over Aang's stupidity.

Everyone knew he wanted Katara, so what the hell was that moron thinking by agreeing to marry her? She did not want to spend her life in an empty marriage knowing that whenever they together he would be wishing she was someone else. When she said as much, he returned with a smart ass remark about beauty and crap. Like she hadn't heard _that_ before.

Yes Katara was beautiful and brilliant, blah, blah, blah… whatever. Shut up. She was so annoyed, confused and frightened that she misjudged her aim and soaked her self.

"Just give it up already, go run off with your perfect waterbender!" She yelled, getting ready for his next attack.

"No." he answered and she felt his heart rate give a little hiccup. It had done it a few times already during their fight, and she was starting to wonder about it. Why was it doing that? It used to only do that when he got flustered around Katara. Maybe he resented her for being forced to give up Katara? Did Aang blame her?

Even though their marriage wasn't really her fault, she felt ill that he might be angry at her for what happened. As they continued to fight, it occurred to her that maybe there was someone who wanted out of this marriage more than her. But knowing him, his stupid sense of honor would never let him say anything. He would have married her as a favor to her and suffered silently. That was the kind of person he was. She had to think of a way to get him out of their marriage.

Before she could come up with a good plan he spoke. "You are my wife." He said in a tone that brooked no argument. "Everyone you see will know it."

Dumbass! She was trying to help him be with the love of his life! You think he would be a little more co-operative. And his heart rate was still doing that annoying hiccup thing!

"Tell people I ran away or whatever you want but leave me out of this." She suggested. Yeah, that was it. No one could blame him that he had married a flighty, wild child, runaway. Maybe he could contest his marriage then and get out of it. On the tail of that thought she wondered why it was more important to her that Aang being happy than her own marital status.

_Boy am I getting soft_ she thought to herself. Well, Aang was a good kid… er man? Not quite yet. Guy? Whatever. He deserved to be happy.

Of course all warm thoughts towards him quickly left her mind when he attacked her feet again. Damn it! Even the earth rejected her now! What happened to being so in tune with her element that it even let her sleep on it comfortably? She was answered by stepping on a patch of frigid ice and subsequently losing her battle.

"What are you so happy about? You know this means is that you would be stuck with me for the rest of your life." The idiot just lost his best chance out of this.

"That's what I want."

Che, "Yeah right" just because she had been out of it for a few years didn't make her stupid. Thanks to her blindness it didn't matter that she was plain and had an abrasive personality. She had power and that was enough for her.

And yet her mind just couldn't not point out the way her stomach fluttered when he called her pretty. _So… okay… well_ she floundered trying to refute the traitorous thought. _No boy has__ ever called me__ pretty before__. Or even talked to me nice for that matter_.

She had never really had a chance to act all stupid about a boy and get all hung up and day dreamy about him. Thinking Sokka was cool and fun to be with was about as close as she had ever got to that.

Maybe that was why she couldn't think of any better response other than denial when he kept telling her she was pretty and that he had feelings for her. When he started talking about feelings and falling in love the only thing she could think of was to hide or run away. It was all a lie. It had to be. She would not let a few pretty words undo her! The strong earthbender had strengthened her resolve until the scheming bastard on her stopped playing fair. He rolled them over and challenged her to determine the truth of his words for herself.

He cared. Aang really cared about her and it was deep. Yes, she had already picked up that he wasn't proclaiming undying or eternal love for her, but what he felt was still intense enough to break her resistance.

Aang meant to be her husband for real. He meant to stay with her, to share everything with her, to have children with her and to grow old with her. The idea rocked her to her core. If she had been standing she was certain her knees would have given out. As it was she was almost deafened by the thumping of her heart while he touched her face and hair like she was the most precious thing to him.

Why? Why would he want her? What happened to Katara? There was one sure way for her to tell if what was between them was real. She had never told anyone about it because she knew people would be embarrassed by it, but it would give her the reassurance she needed.

She leaned in carefully to kiss him keeping one palm flat on the ground.

Toph had grown up in a house filled with guards, maids and other servants that seemed to think that just because she was blind meant she couldn't hear or feel it when they had sex. At just about any time of day there was a couple somewhere on the estate hiding in some secluded corner secretly playing 'sheath the sword' and she heard or felt it every time until she learned how to block it out. It was almost a laugh when her mother had finally took her aside to reveal the secrets of womanhood. She could probably have taught her mother a few things like how the laundress' new baby was fathered by the gardener and not her husband.

Annoying as it was to be privy to the love lives of the people around her, it did reveal one thing. She could tell how solid a relationship was by how people felt when they kissed. Loving and passionate couples felt like they had fireworks going off inside them, whereas casual trysts just felt a quick rush of lust. Gently, she pressed their lips together waiting for a reaction.

The kiss was exactly what one would expect of two inexperienced teenagers. It was a lot of bumping noses and awkwardness but she wasn't disappointed. In truth it didn't really feel like fireworks, instead it felt like lightning shooting from her middle out and made her toes curl and her fingers tingle.

Maybe… just maybe they could make this marriage work.

Tbc


	8. Chapter 8

Hey there! I am sorry to those of you who have been waiting patiently for me to continue. Luckily, I had a few days off and I'm hoping to get a few chapters out for this story.

The Best Laid Plans – Chapter 7

Aang was at a complete loss. Where did a nice girl of noble birth learn to kiss like this? Not that he was really complaining mind you. He would, however like to know where did she learn to do that with her tongue? Because it was nice… really, _really_ nice. He could do this all day long if she'd let him.

It took surprisingly little time for the newlyweds to work out the initial kinks and difficulties to kissing. But once that was done Toph went on to surprise Aang with her creativity.

"Twinkle toes?" she asked backing away to breathe. He was going to have to get her to stop calling him that.

At least in public, in private she could call him anything she wanted.

"Yes?" He answered spreading little kisses all over her face and neck. Any where he could reach.

"If we are married, aren't we supposed to… you know… it?" her pale cheeks tinted pink.

"Know what?" he asked stupidly wondering what was so important that it had to interrupt their kissing. His wife's eyebrows shot up and after a second or two, his answer hit him. He felt blood rushing not only to his cheeks, but the rest of his head as well. All the way up to his arrow tattoo. His head felt like it was on fire.

"Well we… uh… we don't have to… yet… there's still time." He stuttered

"What do you mean there's still time?" she asked suspiciously making her husband want to wince. "Aang?" she asked ominously when he didn't answer right away.

He took a deep breath, but didn't pull away from her. He rather liked the feel of her pressed tightly in his arms.

"Your parents didn't trust that I would take our marriage seriously, so they made a few stipulations to our contract."

Her expression became closed off and she pulled away from him. "Stipulations? What kinds of stipulations?" she asked pulling back completely from him.

Not liking the loss of her warmth, he tried to wriggle close enough to get his arms around her again "It says we have seventy-two hours to consummate our marriage."

"And then what?" she asked pulling away again, much to his annoyance.

Darn it, did they have to talk about this now? He really wanted to get back to all that great kissing. It wasn't that he was concerned about the other… er… activity… in fact, the more he kissed Toph, the more he was looking forward to it. It was just that Toph had pretty much been forced into their wedding against her will and he couldn't bring himself to bully her into this. Well any more than her parents had bullied her. "Our marriage can be annulled due to 'failure to perform'."

"Ack! Why didn't you say so sooner?" she squawked pulling away from him completely.

As soon as she was free of the tangle of limbs her fingers started undoing the fastenings of her tunic.

Aang's eyes bugged out when her throat and shoulder were bared. Quickly, he turned and focused on the surrounding landscape trying to convince himself that he was checking to see if there was anyone else around that might inadvertently see his nude wife, but even he couldn't believe his own lie.

Behind him, Toph had fallen completely silent. He couldn't even hear her moving. After a few moments longer he dared to turn and peek. Almost instantly he yelped and turned back around. The blush that had begun to recede was back in full force, setting fire to his head again. "What are you doing?" he asked, his voice pitched high and tense. She definitely had more curves than she did the last time he'd seen her.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She retorted rhetorically. "And what are you waiting for? Hurry up and get undressed!"

Staring blindly out at the woods he tried to process her question. "W- What?"

"Hurry up and get undressed! I'm not giving my parents a chance to question our marriage so they can pack me off to someone else!"

Still facing away from her Aang gaped. They wouldn't really challenge something like that would they? How would they know if they didn't do it? Can you test for something like that?

And then the second part of what she said hit him like a cold slap. Would they still try and find a suitable match for her? He couldn't chance it. Fists clenched, he spun around and forced his eyes to stay below her knees.

"Toph, I… I don't feel right about this." He managed to squeak out.

"Right about what? Bedding your wife? What is wrong with you? Are you some kind of scared little girl?"

"No!" he denied "I just don't feel right about…"

"You are a scared little girl." She taunted, amusement heavily tinting her voice.

"No! It's not that! Will you for once shut up and listen to me?" he demanded letting his frustration blanket his embarrassment enough to come close enough to grab her by the shoulders and look at her face. The look of smug superiority on her face helped reduce his discomfort even more.

"I feel like I helped force you into this marriage." Feeling terribly frustrated he let go of her and paced away before turning and coming back.

"It may sound stupid to you but I always figured when I got married, my bride and I would be the happiest people in the world. That she chose me above all others!"

The young groom let out a bitter sigh. "But that didn't happen. You can't even remember our wedding. Thanks to your parents, I never even got to court you. The very least I want now is to be able to do this when we are both ready and want it. And NOT because it's a duty or obligation!"

His rant left him feeling a little drained and a lot embarrassed. Because he was facing away from her he didn't catch the multitude of expressions that flit across her face in succession.

"You know twinkle toes, I think that is the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me."

He grimaced. "I'm glad you think this is funny." He snapped certain that she was still making fun of him until he heard her sniffle.

Turning to look at her, he felt an instant pang at the sight of her standing there nude trying not to cry again.

"Toph?" he asked rushing to her.

"Tell me Aang, if you hadn't come for me do you think that other man would have cared whether or not I was ready?" she snorted inelegantly "Hell no, and I probably would have been married weeks, maybe even months before I was clear headed enough to know it. Hell, I could have even had a baby and not known it."

Aang was a bit shocked by her admission.

"You're not the only one who had big hopes for romance you know." She said, her voice sounding harsh and raspy from her effort not to cry. "But unlike you I always knew it was never going to happen. I always knew that my parents would decide who I was going to marry. The best I could hope for was a man that I could actually like."

His tiny wife closed the gap between them. "I've never done this before, and I'm not sure I'll be any good at it, but I won't let my parents ruin anymore of my life. If this has to be done, then I'm glad it's with you." she clutched the front of his robe in her hands and yanked him down to her in a rough kiss.

Without thinking, his arms automatically went around her causing him to groan when his hands his the smooth skin of her bare hips.

When both of them pulled back to catch their breath, Toph kept a tight grip on him.

"Oh, and since it seems you know even less about being married than I do, I'm going to give you a bit of advice." She said in a low breathless tone. "When a man's wife tells him to get naked, he does it without questions or delays."

"But I-" he began

"Ah!" she shushed him with a finger to his lips.

"Bu-" he stopped when her brow arched at him.

"That's better. Now then, you've gotten taller, but Appa's saddle should still be big enough for what I have in mind."

What could he say to that?

Well, she was his wife now… and if she was certain…

tbc

Sorry this is a lemon free zone (that means no sex scenes for those of you who are unfamilliar with the term)

For those of you who have been patiently waiting, Zutara is up next.


	9. Chapter 9

I'm sorry this chapter like the last ones is un-betaed

The Best Laid Plans – Chapter 9

Zuko knocked on the door to the waterbender's suite a little more timidly than he would have wanted. For some ridiculous reason, the girl always made him feel like a child that had been caught doing something naughty. He waited a moment and decided maybe it would be better to leave a note with the innkeeper for the Avatar.

Just as he was turning to leave, the door opened a crack. Tired blue eyes regarded him intently.

"Can I help you?" she asked carefully keeping the rest of herself hidden behind the door.

She looked terrible. From the little he could see her hair was in disarray her eyes were puffy and had dark circles under them. His initial plan was to just quickly pass on his regrets to the Avatar about leaving for Ba Sing Se before he and his new wife returned. But the cultured well thought out words didn't come instead what blurted out of his mouth was "Are you alright?"

Eyes of the deepest blue rolled at him sardonically and for a moment he regretted his question.

"Why does everybody keep asking me that?" she asked. Even though her tone was annoyed, fatigue still colored it.

"Because you look like you are about to fall on your face?" he answered stupidly. _Yeah, that was a smooth line. _He thought to himself.

She crinkled her brow at him. "I'm fine. Honestly some people! Sokka didn't put you up to this did he?"

"Uh… No?" he responded but it came out sounding more like a question. At the moment he didn't trust his mouth not to say something stupid again. He wasn't sure he was a part of the 'some people' she was talking about or even if he wanted to be.

Slowly she shuffled back away from the door letting him move forward enough to stand just inside her doorway. "Sorry, it's just that I haven't had much sleep in the past few weeks and every time I get a chance to rest some new disaster occurs or somebody interrupts my rest to find out if I'm okay!" her voice had started out quiet but quickly started getting louder to the point where she finished at a loud rant. Zuko was instantly reminded of the brief time they had all spent together during the war. For a girl who wasn't totally insane like his sister Azula, she could still be damn scary.

He had to admit that this rant lacked a real bite since any idiot could tell she was exhausted. "I'm sorry if I disturbed your rest, I just wanted to ask you to relay my regrets to Aang that I had to leave before he returned."

"You're leaving? So soon?"

"Yes, I need to get there before the summit and train-tanks don't travel as fast as flying bison." His lips twitched in memory of all the times he'd chased that stupid animal before he managed to school his features again. The waterbender didn't notice the brief smirk because she was staring at the floor deep in thought.

Uncomfortable with the waterbender's odd mood, he gave an awkward attempt to strike up a conversation. "So why haven't you been sleeping? Are you upset about Aang and Toph?" They weren't exactly best friends, but to Zuko she was one on the short list of people he could say he was close to.

"What?" she asked distractedly "Oh, no. Well, not really. It's a long story and kind of complicated." She said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Say, would it be possible for me to travel with you?"

"Huh?" Why of all people would she want to travel with him? "I was planning on leaving in a few hours. Can you be ready in time?"

Again she made another dismissive wave with her hand. "I haven't even had a chance to unpack yet. I just need to change my clothes and I'm ready."

Looking back in hindsight he should have told her no but how was he to know such a simple request would turn out? If he was fair though, it really wasn't Katara's fault. The bulk of the blame could easily be heaped on her annoying brother Sokka and his wife Suki.

It was easy to accept Katara as a traveling companion. She was only one person and given how tired she looked she would probably be sleeping most of the trip. But then Sokka and Suki just had to insist on joining them under the guise of wanting to give Toph and Aang some time alone.

Yeah, sure they were concerned about the newlyweds. That was why they insisted on having the sleeping compartment that was in between his and Katara's. Or that Sokka watched him like a vulture-hawk whenever he was within yelling range of Katara. Honestly, what did they think he was some kind of animal? He was the fire prince for Agni sake! If he wanted companionship he could have had twenty women who were every bit as attractive as Katara with a snap of his fingers.

_Well, maybe not on this train-tank... can't exactly pack gorgeous women wherever I go... not that there is anything wrong with Katara... she's nice... it would be nice… though I never thought of her like that… she was always Aang's… I had Mai… I don't poach from friends… but she's not Aang's anymore… and I don't have Mai anymore… it might be nice…_ Zuko's thoughts babbled aimlessly leading him no where. He was just too tired to focus.

That of course was the worst part about Sokka and Suki. The unsettling noises from their sleeping compartment could be heard throughout the train-tank completely ruining his sleep. After three days he looked just as worn out as Katara.

So tired he could barely see straight, he stumbled up the ladder that would lead to the roof hatch. Maybe some fresh air would help knock him out.

The crisp night breeze woke him up enough that he was able get himself onto the roof without falling or injuring a limb. When his vision focused he was surprised to find someone was already there.

"Can't sleep?" she asked while bending a small amount of water back into her water skin. He recognized the stance she was in as one of her practice forms.

"No offense, but I'm going to have to kill your brother." He said while rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

Katara chuckled quietly. "I guess they are a bit loud."

"A _bit_ loud? The crew members thought there was a trapped animal on board! I didn't even know the human voice was capable of making those sounds."

Katara stood watching him for a moment wearing a peculiar expression before she burst into full blown laughter. After a moment he joined her, though his laughter was more subdued.

"I'll talk to them." She offered when she subsided to giggles.

"Would you? I know I should, but I don't know how to tell them to stop… uh…" he trailed off not knowing how to say it in front of her.

"Being so romantically enthusiastic?" she offered sweetly but the smug grin was anything but sweet.

"Yeah, sure, that's one way of putting it." He agreed and she laughed again easing the look of fatigue from her face.

"I'm glad my brother is happy. Really I am, but you're right it's annoying. I'll talk to him, but my advice is to start working at night and sleeping during the day."

"How very waterbender of you." he responded drolly.

She raised one brow eloquently at him before allowing her expression to change. "I was meaning to ask, how is your father?"

Zuko's rising mood sank like a stone and he turned to watch the night darkened landscape go by. "The same."

"Zuko I'm sorry…"

"No. Don't be. You did what comes naturally to you."

"But still…"

"If anyone is to blame it's me. I was the one who asked you to save him." he gave a bitter laugh. "After everything he has done, I still couldn't just let him die."

"There is nothing wrong with being compassionate Zuko. In fact I think it is one of your best qualities."

He gave another bitter laugh "Compassion? You call it compassion to leave a person like that?" _To force a person who was broken in mind and spirit to exist as a pathetic shadow of their former selves?_ He thought to himself. "Sometimes I think I might just be as cruel as he was."

A part of him constantly questioned why he kept his father alive in the state he was in. He wasn't even a shadow of himself really. He was a broken defeated wretch of a man not unlike the role his uncle played while in prison.

The problem was his father wasn't playing. The fire lord had lost complete touch with reality after his defeat. His mood swings were ranged from crying fits to attacking everyone on sight. At times he was so violent they had to keep him drugged just to stop him from firebending and hurting one of the palace staff.

Although technically he was still the firelord, the duties of ruling of their nation were now shared by him and his uncle.

For a son who still had some residual feelings for the father he wished he had, was it more compassionate to keep him alive like that? Or would it be better to let him succeed in his next suicide attempt?

"Zuko I can't fix his mind, but if you ever need someone to talk to I'm here." Katara told him while laying a cool hand on hid forearm.

Her sincerity helped ease the ache a bit. "Thanks."

tbc


	10. Chapter 10

Okay I'm back! I hope everyone had a good summer. I am sorry to those of you who were waiting for me to hurry up and finish this story. Things should quiet down a bit after next week. If all goes well I hope to have the next chapter up soon. GASP!

Thank you so very much to all of you who sent me those lovely reviews! I love you all!

The Best Laid Plans – Chapter 10

Toph and Aang slid down off of Appa and into a swarm of people. By now, Aang's Avatar fame was legendary and he was used to the crowd that always gathered whenever Appa was sighted.

His wife however, was not. With his arm draped loosely over her shoulder, he felt her tense as the cluster of bodies surged towards them. Just as he was about to start making excuses and escape, a couple of very welcome faces shoved their way forward.

"Alright people break it up! Nothing to see here!" Sokka bellowed, "You will all have a chance to see the Avatar and his wife at tonight's banquet! Give them some space now!"

At first the crowd looked like it had no intentions of moving but the ripple of response in them when they heard the word 'wife' was a palpable thing causing dozens of different whispers to break out.

'_He's married?'_

'_Is that her?' _

'_So the rumors were true'_

'_Isn't that the earthbender?'_

'_I thought the waterbender was his?'_

The young newlyweds stood uncomfortably in the center of attention when Suki came to rescue them. "You heard the man! MOVE!" she barked with the skill of a veteran military leader scaring many into motion.

Eventually the crowd broke up leaving just Sokka, Suki, Katara and Zuko closest to them. There were still a few stragglers but they had the sense of self preservation to stay a polite distance back. Once they were relatively alone Sokka once again took the lead.

"So-o you guys sure took your time getting here. What were you doing to make you almost late?" he asked twitching his eyebrows up and down then yelped when his wife Suki smacked him in the back of the head.

"Ow! Hey it's not like we don't know what they were doing – Hey! Ow! Why is everybody hitting me?" he complained after his sister smacked him.

Laughing, Toph broke away from her husband and stepped over to hug the idiot General. "Hey Sokka."

"Hey Toph, you look good. Are you feeling any better?" he asked allowing his tone to show how worried he truly was about her.

"I'm alright. And to answer your question, we spent most of our time training."

"Training? You spent the three weeks after your wedding training?"

"Yes, and whatever we did after is entirely our business got it?" she said menacingly while giving him a solid punch to the arm.

Suki chuckled quietly while she edge her husband away and gave the earthbender her own hug. "Don't mind him he really was worried about you. We all were." The Kyoshi warrior said, then stepped aside to let her sister-in-law in.

Katara embraced her the tightest. "Are you sure your okay? I don't think you should be trying any heavy training yet."

The tiny earthbender made a frustrated sound. "Well I couldn't very well show up at the summit like I was. People are expecting a tough Master Earthbender, not some wimpy little blind girl."

"Toph." Katara said in that mother hen tone of hers. Just that one word and everyone there heard the worry that lightly veiled a warning.

Holding her hands up in surrender "I'm fine, I'm fine. Honest. The truth is I still get tired pretty easily and I can't quite get used to the new shape of my body. I feel like I'm constantly tripping over my own feet." She pulled away from Katara's concerned presence and angled towards Zuko's quiet one. "I suppose I should be thankful I didn't grow as much some people. Well sparky, are you going to come over and say hi?"

Accepting the invitation, the fire prince stepped forward and leaned down to embrace her. The difference between the now near hulking firebender and the extremely petite earthbender was almost comical.

"Jeeze, how did you get so big and tall? Maybe you should give Sokka some tips."

"HEY!" Sokka squawked while the rest of them laughed.

"So where's your gloomy girlfriend?" Toph asked, quickly silencing the laughter. "What? What did I say?" she asked feeling the sudden rise in tension.

"Uh, maybe we should show you to your room." Suki suggested awkwardly, "I'm sure you must be tired."

Alarmed, Toph stayed rooted to the spot trying to sort out the impressions her feet were giving her. "She's okay isn't she?"

Beside her Zuko gave a resigned sigh "S'okay." He mumbled "It's not like everyone else doesn't know. She would hear about it sooner or later. But Suki is right; we should not talk about this here."

* * *

Half an hour later in the Avatar's suite at the palace the six friends were seated with tea and pastries that none of them felt like touching. Zuko took a deep breath to relate what for him was a bitter memory.

"Ever since I took over for my father, I've been steadfast in my goal to restore balance to the world. I've been drastically cutting military funding and directing those funds into education, agriculture and infrastructure. Unfortunately war and weapons are what put some of the nation's most powerful families where they are and they are not at all ready to give that up.

There was one governor from a long military line whose family practically made money every time a soldier set foot on a battlefield. He, along with the support of several other families he stonewalled every policy that I tried to put forth." Zuko paused to take a nervous sip of his tepid tea. "Mai got it into her head that she might be able to _persuade_ him to cooperate a little more."

"By persuade you mean…" Toph asked leaving it hanging.

"The kind that involves a promise to use many of the various knives she keeps on her person if you don't do as she says."

"So what happened?"

"She was caught. It seems the man had been anticipating nothing less than an assassination attempt so when Mai showed up she was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the private army he prepared."

Toph paled. "She's not… she didn't… get hurt did she?" it was hard to figure that a fighter like Mai could live through a war only to die such a needless way.

"No. Instead he thought it would be more amusing to have his fun with the fire prince's fiancé before returning her."

The tiny earthbender sat there in shock for a few moments before she stood up and smacked her fist into her palm. "Alright, where the hell is he? I'll grind him into paste." She declared angrily. Mai wasn't her most favorite person, but this governor's actions were unforgivable. Her husband placed a calming hand on her shoulder and coaxed her to sit back down.

"Nothing like that happened." Aang assured her.

"What? Then where is she? Why isn't she here?"

Zuko heaved another bitter sigh. "As luck would have it she was saved… somewhat… by the man's wife and several of her friends."

Toph's face twisted into a look of complete confusion.

"When his wife and her friends walked in and saw him holding a mostly naked woman everyone's first thought was that they were secret lovers. While his wife was making one hell of a scene, the Governor accused Mai of trying to seduce him for political reasons.

Mai became a public scandal almost overnight. Her reputation was completely destroyed. People started making not-so-subtle comments that I regularly used her as some kind of bargaining tool." The firebender shook his head angrily lost in memories that still stung. "Anyway, when she saw how everything I was working for was falling apart, she took it upon herself to publicly acknowledge that her actions were her own and she broke off our engagement."

"Damn, are you okay sparky? I could still turn him into paste if you like."

"Thanks but no. Besides, it seems the _former_ governor has suffered from a constant streak of bad luck lately. Among other things, it seems an earthquake completely leveled his estate and his summer place was hit by and unusual flood." He said managing to keep his face straight.

"An earthquake and a flood huh?" Toph asked drolly then looked at the others "You guys?"

"Of course not! There are many witnesses that can verify that Aang and Katara were in completely different cities at the time." Sokka announced. "However it is _possible_ that members of the ever so mysterious White Lotus organization might have been nearby. Who can tell with those guys?"

A huge grin split Toph's face. Naturally, it would have looked too obvious if the creep's house had burned down but he'd be hard pressed to prove Zuko's involvement with a flood or and earthquake.

"Seriously Zuko, are you sure you are okay?"

"Me? You are the one whose parents put her to sleep for almost four years. How are you doing?"

The earthbender's good mood dissolved at the mention of her parents.

The fire prince started to apologize, but Aang stopped him with a gesture. Taking his wife's hand in support he turned to the rest of the group. "We briefly stopped by their estate on our way here. Toph wasn't ready to speak to them so I told them their ends did not justify their means and that we would reject any contact with them until she is ready."

"Well at least you are not the only one with a messed up family." Zuko said softly. Surprisingly, it made the earthbender feel better. At that point Sokka spoke up.

"Hey you'll always have us!" he announced and as if it was planned, the Avatar's wife and the fire prince groaned in mock despair.

tbc


	11. Chapter 11

The Best Laid Plans – Chapter 11

**In Ba Sing Se**

No matter how much he tried to calm his mind and focus on his breathing, sleep still refused to return Zuko. It was way too early to get up. Dawn was still more than a candelmark away. Flopping over and sprawling his limbs in all directions he stared at the ornately carved ceiling. It wasn't that the large bed in his room wasn't comfortable. It was definitely better than his cot on the train-tank. It also wasn't that he wasn't tired, because he felt like recent events had wrung him out.

He knew that part of the problem lay in the way his body had started getting used to the strange schedule that Katara had suggested in order to avoid listening to Sokka and Suki's very noisy love making. The other problem was Katara and what happened halfway into their trip to Ba Sing Se.

**A week earlier**

His days now started a bit before midnight and continued on through to the afternoon leaving him to sleep the quiet, late afternoon to early evening away. It was surprising, the amount of work he got done without the nonstop interruptions and trivialities that usually occurred during the day. Another added benefit was that he got to spend a lot of time with Katara while she trained under the light of the moon. It was by far the best part of the trip.

And then he had to go and be an idiot.

Maybe it was because she seemed just as lonely as he. Maybe it was because she was the only woman since Mai who didn't look at him and see mountains of gold pieces. Hell, maybe it was because when she talked to him she didn't try to consciously avoid the left side of his face and pretend it didn't exist. Whatever it was, he found an alarming amount of flirting had wormed its way into his interaction with her.

It wasn't that he had planned to flirt with her, it was just so easy. She was beautiful and funny, she treated him like a person and not an establishment. She listened to him and gave him her honest thoughts on whatever they talked about. She was all of these great things and damnit, he was only human. No matter whom they are, men will always be men and they were always going to be susceptible to a beautiful woman talking with them, laughing at their jokes, making them laugh for the first time in what was probably months.

So fine, he had a moment of insanity. So what?

They were standing on the roof of the train-tank watching the full moon when Katara took the opportunity to introduce them and tell him the story of how she knew Yue the moon.

Feeling like an idiot, he nodded at the moon and told it he was pleased to meet it more in an effort to humor Katara than anything. Still, he would admit that he did have the very bizarre feeling that they were being watched by it.

Zuko turned away from his speculation of its cool white surface and almost gasped in shock. Katara was standing next to him, smiling dreamily at the moon while radiating enormous power.

He couldn't help himself. His lips were on hers before he even registered that he was kissing her. No sooner did he come to the absolute conclusion that _yes those are my lips attached to hers_ and _yes we definitely are kissing and I should stop now_ his hands decided to skip ahead of his brain and slid around her waist to pull her closer.

Damn, it was a good kiss.

Not that Mai wasn't a good kisser… because she was. But what made Katara good was that she never did anything by halves. When she decided to kiss she threw everything she was into it and she was a naturally passionate person to begin with. As soon as she decided to respond, it went from sweet and curious to hot and heavy way too fast.

His knees got weak just remembering it. Lucky for him, she came to her senses and broke away first. He was almost crushed when he saw the stunned look on her face. "I'm sorry. I really should not have done that." He stuttered.

If she had been any other woman and he would have probably done everything in his power to persuade her to join him in his quarters. Instead, he gripped the railing next to her tightly and leaned heavily on it trying to will the blood singing in his veins to calm down. It wasn't working very well since she was still close enough to smell the scent of her skin and it was all he could do not to lick his lips and recall her taste.

Man, did he need a woman. It had been way too long since there had been anyone other than himself in his bed.

"No, I'm sorry too." She told him "I could have stopped you but you caught me by surprise. I had never been kissed like that before. I mean some have tried, but that was the first time I let it happen."

_You are not helping Katara_. Knowing that no other man had ever felt the intensity of her kiss did nothing to cool his ardor. Surely Aang must have kissed her? But then after he thought about it, what would a kid raised by monks know about kissing?

Gritting his teeth he reined in his unruly lust and forced himself to look at her. The pair stared at each other for a terribly awkward moment before he spoke. "I am sorry. If Uncle were here he would give you some charming line about kissing pretty girls under the full moon but all I can think of right now is sorry. It won't happen again." He promised then left feeling like the moon was shaking her head at him while he did.

He successfully managed to avoid her until midday meal the next day when he happened to hear her arguing with her brother.

"You should have told me they were going through with it!" Sokka yelled.

"And I told you I don't want it so what does it matter?" Katara yelled back. For a moment Zuko contemplated not going into the room and getting himself in the middle of the sibling spat but they were starting to attract attention from the crew.

He tried to unobtrusively sneak in to the room and saw the pair standing half out of their seats across from each other yelling at almost point blank range. The room was originally designed to be a traveling war room, but they had converted it into a private dinning room. Right now though, it looked very much like a war room. He quietly sidled up to Suki who seemed to be the most level headed one there.

"Do I even want to know what is going on?" he asked her quietly. Sokka however must have heard because he answered.

"Ask _her Highness_ over there." He sniped.

"Don't you dare start that!"

Not sure what to do Zuko opted to stay silent until he got a better explanation.

"Katara, I know you don't want to do this, but I don't think you are going to have much of a choice." Suki intervened calmly.

"Why would they do this? I've been doing fine so far! They had no right to do this to me!" she ranted, arms crossed tightly under her breasts.

"Right to do what?" Zuko asked.

Katara just gave him a disgusted huff and turned her back on all of them. Seeing that the waterbender was not going to answer, her brother started to explain.

"I got a message from the Northern tribe today." He began, and Zuko nodded already knowing this since he was the one who passed it along. "As you might know Chief Arnook has no heir. The closest one he had was a nephew that died last year." Zuko nodded again showing he was still listening but inside he was starting to dread what it might mean for Katara.

"You probably also know Katara has been acting as an ambassador on behalf of the Northern tribe in her travels. What you probably don't know is that both our grangran and new granddad Paku are related by blood to Arnook."

"That means you are in succession for the role of Chief for the Northern Tribe." Zuko deduced.

"Technically, yes but I have already accepted my role in the South and as much as I have agreed to help when needed, I can't be in two places at once. The last time I was there they were talking about making Katara a formal member of the Northern tribe."

"I'm guessing they have?"

"According to the message I got they have chosen to elevate Katara to princess of both the Southern and the Northern water tribes."

"I AM NOT GOING TO BE THE WATER PRINCESS!" Katara shrieked before pacing furiously and muttering nonstop about arrogant, chauvinistic hog-monkeys and several other less flattering names.

Eek that meant she was Azula's social equal. He better send a message to her physicians to increase her medication for the next few months until the initial shock blew over.

Approaching cautiously "Katara, Suki is right. You won't have a choice. Once someone uses your title at the summit, the news will spread like wildfire and you won't be able to get away from it."

The waterbender shot him an evil glare and snarled at him. For a moment he was tempted to hide behind Suki. "Uh… look at it this way. You may be able to accomplish more politically with a more formal title than acting ambassador." He suggested.

If anything her face got scarier. And to think, he was worried about his sister's reaction to this.

"Are you stupid?" she hissed. "They don't want me to have more political leverage! They want me to get married and spit out as many babies as I can!"

What?

"What?" Sokka and Suki yelled together then Sokka continued. "They have to go through dad and me for that."

Katara gave a bitter laugh. "Yeah well, I guess they figure making me their princess gives them the right to decide who I marry. In fact they alre…" she clamped up hard and looked away before she finished what she was about to say but it didn't take a genius to figure it out. On reflex he found himself looking at her throat to reassure himself that the necklace she was wearing was indeed her mother's.

"What? What did they do Katara?" Sokka asked, although his tone suggested he also knew the answer.

The newly titled water princess flumped dejectedly in a chair and put her face in her hands. "It was okay before because I had you and dad to scare them away. And if that didn't work, there was always the understanding I had with Aang so most of them kept their distance. But now…" she reached into her top and pulled out a pouch. Zuko was more than a little shocked when she upended the pouch to see six different betrothal pendants fall out.

Six of them. Somewhere in the Northern water tribe there were six men who stupidly thought they had any business being anywhere near Katara.

Sokka fumed "There is no way they are deciding who is marrying my sister!"

"Katara why didn't you tell us this before?" Suki asked.

"I told you. I was able to deflect most of them before, but then they pulled this princess thing and now it is like my only purpose is to get married. I was going to tell you but then this mess with Toph and it just seemed like her problem was greater than mine."

Zuko took a seat across from her remembering what she had said after their kiss about how other men had tried. The thought of one or all of these men pawing at her didn't sit well at all. Not to mention they had tried when they still believed that she might marry Aang. What would happen when they found out the Avatar was married?

"This is only going to get worse when we reach the summit. Aang and Toph's sudden marriage might be able to deflect some of the attention, but Katara is going to create her own stir. Noblemen from the other nations are going to be vying for her suit." Suki warned.

"Not if they want to live they won't" Sokka warned.

Zuko looked at Katara who looked positively miserable. The waterbender was an independent spirit. There was no way she was going to like being a figurehead trapped in the north with no purpose other than child bearing. He knew from the time of his banishment what it was like to have an empty title and he would not wish that on anyone, least of all her.

"What if she already had an understanding with someone?" Suki asked drawing their attention causing Katara to snort.

"Somehow I think Toph might object to me telling everyone that I am still going to marry her husband."

"Not Aang silly." She said while giving Zuko a peculiar and very uncomfortable look.

"Oh hell no!" Sokka yelled "I am not approving of Zuko for a future brother-in-law." He declared then to Zuko directly, "No offense buddy"

"None taken." He replied awkwardly feeling very queasy about the direction of their conversation. Suki however didn't seem the least bit phased by her husband's rejection. Instead she was beaming a rather mischievous smile.

"But that is the beauty of this. We don't have to say that they are getting married. We merely need to _imply _it."

"I'm not following you."

"Really Sokka if you had had been paying attention anytime over the past week you would have already heard the gossip among the crew about all of the time they have been spending together."

"What?" Zuko, Sokka and Katara exclaimed, all out of synch with each other.

"All we need to do is _not deny_ that there is something between them." She said triumphantly then made a face. "Actually, it probably wouldn't hurt if we beefed up the rumor a bit by openly speculating that a match between the Fire Prince and the Water Princess would be an advantageous one." The three other occupants of the room just stared at her blankly. "Don't you see? It's perfect! This way Zuko has an excuse to stay close to Katara and scare away the bulk of her suitors when Sokka and I cannot."

"I still don't like it." The water tribesman declared with less heat.

"Well as far as I can see there are only two ways Katara is getting out of this. One is if she is married or two if she's dead! So if you have a better Idea I'm willing to listen to it!" her husband still didn't look pleased, but he seemed to be considering the possibilities, while Katara's expression was perfectly blank. Zuko however felt very uncomfortable. He'd only just kissed the woman yesterday. How did that jump to this?

"There are so many ways this could blow up in our faces." He grumbled. Looking at the woman in question "What do you say Katara?"

"ME? What about you? Won't having me around all of the time be a problem for you?"

He shrugged "It's not like we have to do anything different. We just have to spend time together and let people draw their own conclusions right?"

"I guess." She said unsure. If his eyes weren't lying to him he would swear she blushed at that moment. Shyly she met his eyes. "But if this does blow up in our faces you realize we could really end up married to each other."

He tried very hard to control the wincing grimace that wanted to show on his face. It wasn't a horrible fate, but certainly not one he wanted to think about right now. "How about we just take things one step at a time?" One overnight courtship among their gaang was enough.

She smiled at him showing she understood what he was trying to say to her. "Well if this does blow up I want to say thank you for trying and I won't hold you to anything."

**Back in Ba Sing Se**

Katara stayed close to him for the rest of the trip and somehow they both managed not to cringe every time one of the crew members gave them a knowing look or when Suki just gushed within earshot of them how sweet they looked together.

For Katara's part, he had to admit it wasn't bad having her around. It gave him someone to talk to and occasionally sound off to when his royal duties were starting to frustrate him. Occasionally she came up with a few decent suggestions. He hated to admit it, but some of them were better than his.

As he was about to flip over for the umpteenth time in his bed he changed his mind and threw himself out of it with a frustrated snarl. Stalking to the windows he saw much to his annoyance that even the pre-dawn light had yet to begin.

Movement in the terrace below caught his eye and he wasn't surprised to find Katara practicing her forms in what was left of the night. Watching her for a few moments, inspiration struck and he used the room's bell pull to call a servant.

"I guess I should start doing my job." He told himself. He was supposed to be spending time with the woman. Funny thing was he didn't feel this duty was all that much of a burden.

Katara had long since finished her practice forms when the sun's rays broke the horizon. She was just quietly sipping her tea on one of the palace garden terraces waiting for the sunrise when someone approached her from behind. Figuring no one else she knew would be up at this early hour, she dismissed it as one of the building's servants until they kept moving towards her. Admittedly, she was nowhere near Toph's league when it came to using her other senses so it took her a moment to recognize the heavy, yet fluid gait.

_I guess it is time for me to start some more rumors_ she thought, a bit sadly. Inwardly she braced herself. She didn't mind being with Zuko, in fact she was really starting to enjoy it and nothing in this or the spirit world could keep her mind off of the kiss they had shared. What she hated was all of the gossip and speculation from others but she needed all the same.

Without moving from her seat, she called the person "You are up early."

"I blame your brother. He's the one who threw my whole sleep schedule out of whack."

Pulling her eyes away from the pre-dawn view, she tilted her head back to greet Zuko with a smile. "I'll make a waterbender out of you yet." She threatened.

"So says the girl who is up to watch the sun like a firebender." He retorted with good humor causing her to smile.

"Sunset is better, but I like this time of day too." She said quietly, and the two watched in companionable silence while the sun's fiery light spread across the horizon before them. Without thought or intention, Katara gave a small parting sigh as her power waned. At the same time Zuko took a large breath in, expanding his lungs as his power surged and grew.

For a moment the two of them looked at each other then both started to laugh as they realized that they had both been performing this same ritual together almost every morning over the past three weeks.

"So what can I do for the Fire Prince this lovely Ba Sing Se morning?" she asked pleasantly.

He quirked an eyebrow at her for the formal tone of the question before responding "Actually nothing." He said then waved over a palace servant who was carrying a tray with more tea along with bread and jams. The waterbender instantly recognized the tea label from Iroh's shop.

Wait… that meant… "Blue currant jelly!" she squealed in a very girl like fashion as she spied the condiment. Without even waiting for Zuko, she grabbed a piece of soda bread and heaped liberal amounts of the bluish-purple jelly onto it. The sounds of bliss she made while eating were probably highly undignified, but she didn't care.

"Mmm… Zuko I may just have to marry your uncle for this stuff." She indulged herself a little more before she caught Zuko's pole-axed expression and the scandalized one on the servant's.

Brushing the crumbs off herself she tried to look a little more ladylike "Sorry. I rarely get to enjoy treats like this."

"Uncle said you would like it. He didn't say it would transform you into some kind of savage glutton." He said using an amused teasing tone.

Her eyebrows shot up and she gave him an expression of exaggerated insult. "I am _not_ a glutton." She protested, knowing full well that she just did her best impression of one not a moment before.

"Oh please, I was afraid to get my tea in case my arm got torn off in your feeding frenzy."

Feeding frenzy? Okay that was a bit much. Narrowing her eyes a bit she dropped her feigned expression for a more honest one. "Alright you've had your fun. Leave if you are just going to keep it up."

Still chuckling he waved away the emotionally scarred servant both of them hoping the man had seen enough to help their cause.

"Sorry," he explained, while spreading his own piece of bread with jelly with distinctly less enthusiasm than her. "I just rarely ever see you so discomposed. You didn't even look this way when Aang and…" he trailed off his face transforming from one of humor to one of horror.

It didn't take that expression for Katara to tell what he was going to say. _When Aang and Toph got married_. She could practically hear it echoing in her head even if the words were never said.

Zuko slouched down with a very unhappy expression, unable to meet her eyes. "I'm terribly sorry I was way out of line there."

"No, it's alright. I appreciate you not saying anything until now." She knew he was trying to spare her feelings.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly. She supposed now was the time to face those feelings head on. Taking a big sigh, she said what had been bothering her for the past few weeks.

"Yes and that's the problem." She said and the man across from her looked confused.

"I'm not a fool. I always knew how Aang felt. At first he was just this goofy kid. He was my friend, my travelling companion, he was the Avatar. At the time I thought he was too young and I was too young to even think about romance, I was not ready to even think about it, but I also didn't do anything to stop it. Then after a while, I thought maybe it could be him and I even started to get closer to him. But after the war, with all of the duties and being away from each other for months at a time, I feel like we've just grown apart."

Against her wishes, she felt her throat closing up and the burning itch behind her eyes that signaled she would start crying if she didn't calm down. She desperately hoped there was no one watching them at that moment because she would never live down the shame.

"Do you know what I felt when Aang proposed to Toph's parents?" she asked whispered hoarsely while her eyes started to well up, "Nothing." She stated bluntly.

"How horrible a person am I? I mean I felt surprised, sure, but I wasn't heartbroken. What does that say about me? The boy that has been chasing me for years and I don't care if he gets married to someone else? I'm such a horrible person." she broke down. It was so stupid. She was not angry about losing Aang, merely angry that it didn't bother her that she lost him.

Without a word, Zuko crossed around the table, knelt and grabbed her in a fierce hug. Feeling strong arms about her, she started sobbing heavily into his shoulder. Warmth radiated from his hand as he made small circular motions against her back while murmuring reassurances to her.

"You aren't a bad person." He told her quietly. "A lot of people's feelings change as they grow into an adult. Realistically, almost nobody stays compatible with the same person from childhood through to adulthood." By now her sobs had dwindled to little hiccupping sniffles. "You just figured it out a little quicker than he did. That's all."

"Yeah, well now there is this whole princess disaster. There is going to be dozens of marriage offers and he was the only one who matched what I was looking for so now what do I do?" said pulling back with one last sniffle. She winced when she saw the wet stain on his shirt.

"Matched? You actually have a type you are looking for?" he asked, clearly surprised ignoring the mess she made of his shirt.

At the mention of it, Katara gave an embarrassed groan and used a napkin to clean up her wet, splotchy face. "Oh, well, it's kind of silly really." She said dabbing at her eyes while he resumed his seat across from her.

"Oh?"

Sighing and rolling her eyes she relented. "Alright, but you can't laugh."

With and intrigued expression, he chose to stay silent forcing her to look away in embarrassment "Back when we were all first travelling, when it was just Sokka, Aang and myself you still had that ridiculous top knot-"

"Hey! That happens to be a Fire Nation custom." He interrupted.

"Well I suppose it was kind of cute." She teased.

"Cute?" he squawked, insulted.

"Kidding, calm down. Anyway we met this fortune teller that told me I would marry a very powerful bender. It sounds silly I know, and maybe it was because she just sounded so certain, or maybe it was because I was still trying to figure out my own bending powers, but I always figured it would come true. I just assumed Aang would be the one." she finished, feeling more than a little stupid for hanging on to such a childish notion. She really should have just blotted the whole thing from her mind at the beginning. Turning to Zuko, she caught him with the most peculiar expression on his face.

"What?" she asked him.

"I'm trying to decide if I've been insulted or not."

"I'm sorry I made fun of your traditional top knot. Happy?"

"Not that. Although how dare you call warrior tradition cute, but no, I mean this whole powerful bender thing. Are you telling me in a list of eligible powerful benders, I didn't even make the list?"

Katara spluttered for a moment "I didn't say that."

"Yes you did. You said Aang was the only one who met those qualifications."

"Well at the time we were running for our lives from you."

"Yeah but afterward I should have at least been on a shortlist or something!"

Surprised at the sudden turn in the conversation she floundered for a moment trying to defend herself. It was true; she hadn't considered him a candidate, even though they were supposed to be pretending to be interested in one another. How did she miss him? He was certainly powerful. And as for his looks, she didn't really notice his scar anymore so she supposed he was attractive.

"Unless my memory is faulty, didn't you have a girlfriend up until recently who would have tried to put a bunch of holes in my hide if had considered you a romantic candidate?" she asked pointedly, looking at him with an air of smug superiority until she caught that he was doing everything in his power to keep his face straight. Indeed, his eyes had a mischievous glint and he looked like he was ready to burst out laughing.

"Oh you!" she exclaimed outraged while he exploded in laughter. "Very funny." She said.

"Ha, ha, ha, ahem, ha… sorry, tee hee… it's so rare that I get to be Sokka."

"Please don't. One of him is enough."

Clearing his throat he gave a meaningful look to the surrounding areas where they were both certain they were being spied again. "Do you think that is enough?" he murmured quietly under his breath so only she could hear.

Just as quiet and almost not moving her lips at all she replied "Probably, but you are welcome to stay if you like."

The truth is she kind of wanted him to stay. When he was close like this or when he was hugging her earlier she couldn't help but think of the kiss they had shared. When ever she and Aang had kissed it was always just a sweet touching of lips. Nothing that made her knees turn to jelly or her insides flip.

Somehow she was going to have to find an opportunity to make that happen again. She didn't want to think about the lie they were trying to live or that soon she was going to have to choose a real husband. Right now what she would rather think about was that sometime during their masquerade she would get another chance to get one of those incredible kisses from Zuko.

tbc

AN: Well I'm sorry if you thought Katara's life was all smiles. She gets to be a miserable as Yue was. Remember, the theme and title of this story is The Best Laid Plans which means that just about everyone's previous plans for the future have been scrapped. As a matter of fact I think only Sokka and Suki got what they wanted from the beginning.

Boy, this turned out to be one long chapter. I was trying for a dash of Zutara and instead it took on a life of its own. Unfortunately for the Taang fans there is at least one more Zutara chapter before I tie up the Taang ends.


	12. Chapter 12

Wow! Hey there! Yes I am still alive. Barely. I was working my butt off all winter and I think my muse went into hibernation. Anyway, for those of you just new to this story or for those who have forgotten because it's been forever since I updated, this story was started before the finale of the show aired so some of the details were off and I had to make some educated guesses on my part.

Because I was fairly close in my predictions, I decided to leave the chapters as is. It would have been easy enough to change it but like I said, it wasn't that far. I was sure that even though Aang would win, the fire lord would still be alive. I thought he was going to go insane, turns out it was going to be Azula. I knew that Zuko would be running the fire nation at least in name because they I thought they couldn't crown him fire lord until his father's death. Turns out they can. Anyway, if the discrepancies bother you you'll have to fix them in your mind. Sorry.

Oh, and I apologize for the un-betaed quality of this chapter.

The Best Laid Plans – Chapter 12

Aang stretched sleepily and reached out to his wife only to find empty space. Toph's heat and scent still clung to the bed covers so she must not have been gone for long. Opening one bleary eye he quickly scanned the room to find that she was nowhere to be seen and deduced by the closed door to the water closet her current location.

As if on cue, the door opened and a petite scruffy looking earthbender appeared. She stood unsteadily in the doorway for a few moments with her eyes closed and her head falling to one side. It looked like she had fallen asleep standing right where she was. His wife gave a lurching tilt forward and proceeded to shuffle across the room to the bed where she flopped face down on it. The whole thing would have looked quite comical including the face flop if he wasn't so worried about her.

It had been three weeks since their wedding and Toph had yet to recover the bulk of her strength. Although her earth bending skills were up to par, her body had difficulties keeping up and she still tired easily.

Reaching an arm around her, he pulled and manhandled her until her back was flush with his chest.

Wow. This was one of the best parts he found to being married. Not necessarily love making –although that was great and he would never say otherwise- but the intimacy, the feeling of being close to someone. The feeling of not being so completely isolated from everything and everyone else that had plagued him for most of his life.

He didn't realize it until now, but he had always felt apart from others. When you're The Avatar isolation is almost inevitable. People will look at you differently; hold you up to a different scale than others. The simple truth was that he was different. For the brief and wonderful time when he was traveling with his friends there were a few moments when he could almost pretend he wasn't, but then the Avatar business would smash the illusion all over again.

With Toph, it didn't matter. She knew he was The Avatar but that wasn't what made him special to her. What mattered to her was the bond they had formed through friendship. A bond he almost let go to waste while she was trapped in oblivion with her parents.

With effort, he shoved the feelings of bitter guilt aside. He would probably never be able to let those feelings truly go until his wife stopped feeling angry about it. And that would probably be years, even decades off.

Anyway, she didn't need him in a bitter, sour, mood. "Good morning sleepyhead." He said quietly behind her ear.

Toph made an irritated growl "Says you." she mumbled, completely refuting his theory that the morning was indeed good.

"Still tired?" Toph didn't really agree, just made a muffled noise that could be taken for an assent.

The words 'Maybe we should have Katara look at you' were right on the edge of his tongue, ready to slip out before he bit them off and chewed them back down. His wife was still sensitive to the _K-word_.

Even though he was with her had told her countless times over the past three weeks that he didn't regret his decision, she still wasn't entirely convinced. Katara's name could slip out harmlessly in a conversation and the earthbender's face would always become suspiciously blank and make him feel like he'd said a dirty word.

His wife made another weird grumbling sound "I think I've got other problems to worry about right now."

Aang felt a spike in his worry "You do?" he asked angling up onto his elbow to look down at her.

Toph put her arm up and made a dismissive wave with it. "Yeah, but you don't need to know. It's a girl thing."

"A girl thing?" she was his wife! He pretty much wanted to know everything about her. "Toph, you do know that I've been a girl right? A couple hundred times in fact."

Toph sighed and pulled her face out from where she had buried it in the pillow. "Fine." She said abruptly "I think I'm coming up to my bleeding period."

Aang felt his cheeks tint. "Oh."

"Yeah oh. I had already started them before my parents put me out, so I do remember a bit about them. Although I don't remember the cramps ever being this bad."

"Is there something I can do?" he asked stupidly. Even he knew the answer to that.

"No. unless you can use your almighty avatar-bending skills to get rid of cramps." She said sarcastically.

"I'm sor- hey wait!" He was about to apologize and say no when he thought of something. Using a mixture of fire bending and air bending, he heated the air around his hand and laid it on her abdomen and rubbed it in circles. His wife responded with a groan of relief.

Her contented happy sounds had a rather predictable affect on the part of his body that was always awake before the rest of him was. He tried to casually put some space between his groin and her bottom but of course because it was Toph whose senses were more heightened than others, she noticed long before he had tried to move.

"If I didn't know any better twinkle toes, I'd think you were trying to be nice to me in order to get lucky."

He gave a frustrated sound and buried his nose in her hair. "I tried to tell you all men wake up like this every morning." He said, causing her to chuckle.

After their first night together –well okay, it was technically the second because she was asleep for the first- she had been rather amused to find him erect in the morning and tried teasing him about it. When He explained that all boys and men woke up that way she completely disbelieved. 'It's not possible. You can't _always_ wake up like that' and since he was still feeling very unsure with talking about the body, he managed to stutter out that yes, yes we can.

A part of his embarrassment had stemmed from how clumsy and awkward he was the first time. He knew he hurt her a bit and he'd tried to be gentle, but he knew she didn't enjoy any part of their first time together. After thinking about it long and hard he came to the conclusion that it was a bit like bending where the knowledge came naturally but he still had to re-learn the techniques. If that was true then he needed to find a teacher.

Sokka? No, he and Zuko both left for Ba Sing Se without him.

Someone from town? Absolutely no. They were the bastards that actually believed that he'd kidnapped her.

Then it hit him. BIG FAT DUH. Talk to himself! Roku was married for, like, fifty years! He must have learned some sort of tricks to making his wife happy.

The young Avatar spent the afternoon while his wife was resting in meditation. Much to his horror and chagrin it wasn't Roku that answered his call. It was Kyoshi, which felt very awkward. Yes it was him, but she still felt like someone different.

He made several attempts to say something, but the sounds just came out like pubescent, voice-cracking, squeaks. Finally after an eternity of discomfort, Kyoshi spoke. "I know why you are here Aang and I can tell you I will not help you."

"What? Why? You're me! Why can't you help me? It's not like this is about saving the world!" he cried.

"Aang you are not the first to try to contact your other lives for this type of purpose. There are actually hundreds of us who have done so, but we cannot give you this answer. Not only is it selfish, it is a normal part of a person's development that everyone has to go through."

Aang looked at her disheartened. She had a point, even if he hated it. Kyoshi gave him an understanding smile. "I can tell you as the women you once were, any man you have ever loved has always taken the time and the effort to get to know you. The best teacher for how to make your wife happy is your wife."

The young Avatar took what Kyoshi said to heart. Over the next few days he drove Toph nuts with all of the questions he asked.

At one point he demanded, even bullied her into letting him bathe her. She got mad because she thought he was tying to say he thought she was helpless. She soon learned otherwise.

It was still awkward and a little embarrassing, but he used the opportunity to learn all of the details about her body. Where she was more sensitive, where she was ticklish, he took the time to learn it all. He eventually got up the nerve to touch and caress her more private areas and taught himself how to be intimate with her without feeling like he was going to die from embarrassment or accidentally hurt her.

Their lovemaking while they dried each other off was far better than their first time.

Aang smiled at the memory and pulled his wife tight to him again. "I'm not going to trick you in to anything if you are not feeling well."

Toph wriggled her petite body against his to tease him. "I said I think it's coming up, not that it's here."

As much as his hand was itching to travel upwards and fondle her breasts, she did say she was hurting and he never wanted to be a source of pain for her again. "As much as I'd love to," he said while nuzzling the area behind her ear, "you said you were cramping. I can wait until you feel better."

He continued to stroke her belly in circles while using heated air to ease the aching muscles. "Hey, maybe Suki has something that could help you. She was the one that gave you that tea, right?" The tea was brewed from an herb that prevented pregnancy. It was left in their room at the inn with a note about the others leaving for Ba Sing Se ahead of them.

"I'm surprised you didn't suggest I see Katara." She said, and her flat tone made him think of signs with 'WARNING DANGEROUS PATH AHEAD'

As casually as he could, he answered "I think Katara has enough trouble already."

Toph let out a frustrated breath and Aang knew he'd managed to dodge any unpleasantness between them. "Yeah I guess you're right. I still can't believe sugar queen turned out to be a water princess."

"She is not at all happy about it though." None of them were happy about it.

"Would you be? With all those slimy old men pawing at you? I mean they aren't even subtle!" Toph said indignantly. Frustrated and more than a little angry the earthbender sprang up from the bed and started to pace the room. "It was a damn good thing that Sparky was there to keep them off her or I would have had to fix one of those jerks! Permanently!" she finished while smacking her fist into her palm.

"The worst is that Hahn creep." Aang said, completely agreeing with his wife. They had been shocked to learn that Katara's social status had been promoted, but it was the volume and the boldness of her suitors that disgusted him. With so many of them competing for her attention, they kept increasing their boldness to try and get her to notice them. Their attentions were bordering on vulgar.

One merchant's spoiled brat of a son, whose sole ambition must have been to marry a wealthy woman who could keep him in his cushy lifestyle that he was accustomed to, was actually stupid and desperate enough to openly proposition her! He actually told Katara that he would love to spend the night showing her how well he could please women _while at the dinner table!_ Aang had been so offended that he was about to go avatar all over him, Sokka had pulled his boomerang out of spirits know where, Suki had her fans out, but Zuko had barked out for the guards before any of them could properly react.

The fire prince spoke in a low tone that was openly hostile and clear to everyone in the room. "Get this man out of here and out of the city before I finish my meal. If either the princess or I see his face again, his life is forfeit for this offense."

The idiot in question had broken into tears and started blubbering about how sorry he was, asking where he was going to live, blah, blah, blah. He should have thought of that before he opened his mouth.

But that Hahn from the Northern Tribe was creepier. He didn't say anything particularly rude; he just followed her around like glued to her, and kept calling her sickening names like beloved and darling like he had any right to call her any of these names. The only time he would leave her side was when she had to use the bathroom! Who does that?

All of them, especially Sokka had openly voiced that he was not welcome anywhere near Katara, but he just ignored them. The worst part was that he was one of the jerks from the Northern Tribe that had given her a betrothal pendant. And way he talked was like his marriage to Katara was a forgone conclusion. Even Zuko couldn't sway him. He just looked at the fire prince like he was a talking badgertoad and ignored anything Zuko had to say.

After four days in the city and dealing with the summit, Aang and Toph's wedding, Katara's new social status, dealing with overzealous suitors and a stalker was wearing them all thin.

"We will have to think of some way to get rid of him." Toph said ominously.

Aang got up and hugged his wife. "You know you're awfully cute when you're scheming." He said playfully, and she gave him a gentle shove in the shoulder.

"You see! I knew you were trying to get lucky!" she declared while they moved back to the bed.

AN: almost done!


	13. Chapter 13

The Best Laid Plans – Chapter 13

His Royal Highness, Prince Zuko, heir to the glorious fire nation, paced his room like a caged animal.

He had a problem.

Make that several problems.

No, scratch that, make that one big problem, one slightly smaller but definitely more annoying problem, and over a dozen nuisances.

What was the big problem?

He really liked Katara. A lot. And he had no idea how she felt about him.

She was beautiful, funny, smart, loyal, a fantastic kisser, beautiful… oh wait… he already covered that one. Maybe he should keep the second one in to emphasize that she was beautiful all the way to her core.

Well okay, there were some bad parts about her too, but who said perfection was so great? True, she had a wicked temper that scared the crap out of him, she had times where she talked to him like he was five years old and she definitely had far too many admirers.

The temper he could live with. After all he had lived with his father and Azula hadn't he? The talking to him like a child could get annoying, but she mainly did it when she thought he was acting like an idiot so he could see why she did it. It was those damn slobbering bastards that really pissed him off.

The dozen or two nuisances he could deal with. Aside from their appalling manners, they really posed no challenge to him. He knew for a fact she couldn't stand them and only good manners and iron will not to make a fool of herself by stooping to their level kept her from doing something drastic to any of them.

It was that bastard from the Northern Tribe, Hahn that kept getting in his way. He stalked her all the time! The only time he left her side was when she had to forcibly tell him to leave and even then he would put up resistance if he thought Zuko was staying.

'I'm deeply sorry beloved, but I can't possibly leave you alone in the same room with a firebender.'

'Beloved, I understand he is a childhood friend of yours but it does not look well for a sweet Water Tribe lady such as you to be around that firebender so much. People will jump to unsavory conclusions.'

'This Earth kingdom food is a tad bland compared to our Water Tribe cuisine, right beloved? Of course, anything is better than Fire Nation food.'

Ugh. The man practically made Zuko want to puke with his syrupy voice and always calling her beloved while he called Zuko 'the firebender' or 'that firebender'.

He had a name and a title thank you very much! No matter how many times Zuko or Katara corrected him, he still pretended to forget. Rude bastard.

Zuko had tried to get rid of him like he did with that other idiot, but Hahn was part of the water delegation and ranked higher than a wealthy merchant's spoiled brat. If he wanted to get him sent back to the Northern Tribe, he needed Katara's support and for some stupid reason she wasn't willing to give it. Something about him not really doing anything worse than acting like a hogmonkey's rear which she apparently thought all Northern Water tribesmen did.

Oh! And there was that annoying smirk he gave Zuko at weird times! It made him think of a Pai Sho player with a few extra tiles up his sleeve. It was always so smug, like he knew something that Zuko didn't. It was those smirks that really annoyed the prince because it made him wonder if the Northern chief and elders had already decided Hahn would be Katara's husband.

Well not if he had anything to say about it. Hell, not even if he had no say in it. A jerk was a jerk and this jerk was not marrying Katara.

And that brought him to his really big problem. His feelings for her were growing at a frightening rate. He knew that he was supposed to just let people 'think' there was something going on with them, but being with her just felt so easy and natural. Everything just felt so right. It was getting harder and harder to figure out where the pretending stopped and reality began.

When that merchant's idiot son had made his atrociously lewd suggestion, he had literally been blinded by the anger within himself. His vision was nothing but a haze of red and he was ready to kill the man where he sat. He still couldn't remember what words came out of his mouth or how he had the brain power to say them because the next thing he could recall clearly was the idiot screaming and crying while a pair of guards forcefully dragged him out the door.

The whole event left the prince in a foul temper for the remainder of the evening and well into the dance that night. His face kept twisting into a bitter scowl every time a man under the age of fifty took Katara into his arms to dance.

About half-way through he lost all patience and pulled her aside on the guise of getting refreshments. Hahn of course was there, but Katara managed to shoo him off, telling the jerk she needed to talk to Zuko alone. He put up several complaints until Katara showed a bit of temper. Reluctantly, the jerk backed off and the instant his back was turned Zuko grabbed Katara and dragged her away from the party.

He ducked and wove down several corridors until he was certain that they were not being followed, and then he continued to drag her outside to the palace gardens. Katara chose to remain silent, but kept giving him weird looks as if trying to figure out what he was up to. Zuko himself wasn't really sure what he was doing, he just knew he had to get her away from those pawing greedy animals.

When they reached the gardens he stopped dead feeling suddenly unsure what to do. He looked at Katara as if she had the answers but she just stood there quietly with one eyebrow cocked at him in an expression that was a mixture of amusement and confusion.

Damn it, did she have to look so tempting?

He used his much larger size to gently herd her towards one of the garden walls and away from any possible prying eyes. Once he was confident they would be fairly hidden by the clinging vines hanging around them, he wasted no time in gluing his mouth to hers in a desperate kiss. He'd been going crazy for another chance to kiss her and now that he had the chance, he wasn't inclined to be timid.

The party, their friends, the rest of the world, sort of disappeared for him. The only real thing was the woman in his arms and the urge to bring their bodies closer together. His arms banded about her waist in a way that would make one think he was trying to somehow merge the pair of them into one being, but Katara didn't seem to mind. In fact, she was wrapped around him as tightly as one of the clinging vines concealing them. When they broke apart, they were both panting heavily.

Saints alive, that was the best kiss in the history of kisses. Well, his history anyway. A tiny fissure of guilt about Mai tried to worm its way through, but his current euphoria blocked it easily. Kissing Mai had always been nice and sweet and made him feel good, but they never had the greedy intensity of that Katara's kisses had. The waterbender could make him burn with a desperate hunger for more and he was a bit afraid that he would never feel like he had enough of her.

And then the little water witch had to go and ruin his moment.

"We can't stay here Zuko. We've already been gone too long for others not to notice." She said, still panting a bit.

He wanted to growl, and swear, and tell her to hell with the party, but he knew she was right. Damn it.

That magnificent kiss and the annoying party around it had been two days ago and the fire prince had come to one important conclusion. He was going to court Katara for real. He would just have to find out what was involved from Sokka, and work around that jerk Hahn, and maybe the elders of the Northern Water tribe if they interfered.

When he would look back on this moment years later he would be forever convinced that the spirits had been waiting for him to hurry up and come to that very conclusion because how else would such a convenient solution present itself not even half a day later?

It was almost time for the delegates to gather for midday meal when a commotion in the front courtyard caused ripples of whispers throughout the palace. At the time Zuko didn't really pay attention because for reasons he didn't care about, Hahn wasn't stuck to Katara's side. The prince was enjoying her exclusive company until her brother caught their attention.

"Uh, hey guys? I think you better see this."

As a group they all went down to the courtyard and most of them were surprised by the gathering crowd. They jostled and wove through the crowd, working their way to a point where they could see, at which point Katara let out a gasp of shock and the color drained from her face. Alarmed at her reaction, Zuko took a closer look, taking in all of the details.

The courtyard had been set up like a circular arena. It reminded the firebender somewhat of an Agni kai arena with the exception of the weird water tribe style decorations around the edge. Ugh, and that jerk Hahn was kneeling in the center.

His face and arms were covered in warrior paint and his upper torso was bare except for a light, sleeveless vest that was open at the front. Stuck in the ground on either side of him was a pair of decorated long spears. It really did look like an Agni kai only Water Tribe style.

"What's going on?" Aang asked no one in particular.

"Hahn is calling our bluff and forcing our hand." Sokka said darkly.

"What does that mean?" Toph asked. The newlyweds had been told of their plan to keep most of Katara's suitors away by fooling everyone into thinking that she and Zuko had and understanding, but this stunt of Hahn's was confusing them all.

Suki must have learned a bit of water tribe culture, because she was the one that answered. "It's a very old custom that is pretty much not used anymore unless there are two men who want the same woman. It's basically a battle to decide who the woman will marry."

"So it's just a matter of the winner getting the girl? What happens if she has feelings for the looser?" the earthbender asked.

"It doesn't matter." Sokka answered. "Like Suki said, it's a very old custom. The Southern Tribe doesn't even practice it anymore because it's a throwback to much more primitive times when women were considered property."

"If he wants a fight, I'll fight him." Katara growled, speaking up for the first time. The woman was literally trembling with rage "How dare they insult me like this!" she hissed.

At that moment, one of the Water Tribe delegates whose name Zuko couldn't recall, showed up and almost fainted when Katara leveled a hostile glare at him. He held out his hands in a gesture of submission and tried to calm her obviously raging temper.

"Now, now, Your Highness, this duel has already been approved by the council of elders so there is no need to make that face." He said nervously; sweat visibly popping out on his face.

"Fine then, I'll fight for myself." She announced.

"Now you know that would only invalidate the duel and Hahn would win by default." He said while still trying to make placating gestures.

"Katara, your Water Tribe customs suck." Toph announced. "What kind of crap are these guys trying to pull?"

"The same thing your parents tried to pull with you, what else?"

The earthbender scowled "Well there was a way out of that, so there has to be a way out of this."

"I can fight for her. As her brother, I should have been advised of this." Sokka told them.

While they were talking, the jerk in the center of the arena stood up and raised his voice for all onlookers to hear. "I call upon my right as given to me by the council of elders and Chief Arnook to claim my betrothal to her Royal Highness, Katara of the Water Tribes. Is there any who wish to challenge my right? They may come forth." Sokka was about to step forward but was stopped by an arm barring his path.

Zuko, who up until now had remained silent and motionless, finally chose to speak up. "I challenge you." he declared loud enough for all to hear causing dozens of spectators to gasp.

Hahn turned to look at him and smirked that annoying smirk of his. "I should warn you firebender, you must fight by yourself without the aid of anyone and you cannot use bending skills. This is strictly armed combat."

Zuko almost gave him a toothy grin but controlled it and tried his best to look disappointed. If the fool thought that a fire prince did nothing more than sit on his butt all day signing papers and making proclamations he was going to be painfully surprised. "I accept your conditions."

Katara jumped in front of him and put a hand on his chest. "Wait! Zuko! What do you think you are doing?" she whispered urgently.

He gave her a huge grin. "Putting myself on the short list." He said, teasing her about that silly list of qualifications she had in her head regarding her future husband 'the powerful bender'.

"Putting your- that's not funny! You don't know what this means!"

"I think I have a pretty good idea."

"If you win this, we'll be betrothed according to tribal law." She hissed.

"Do you have a problem with that?" he asked quietly, looking directly into her eyes. _Please Katara. Please accept me_. He willed with all his spirit.

The waterbender's cheeks darkened to a rosy color and she returned his look. "I-I-I- I don't. Not if it's you." she breathed out.

* * *

Katara knew she should stop this. It was a stupid, barbaric, chauvinistic custom that she had no intention of respecting.

Yes she should definitely stop this, but she was too busy ogling Zuko with his shirt off. More than a few women had made shocked and approving sounds when he removed his robes and shirt and walked into the arena. His opponent didn't seem at all pleased though. It was all she could to not to crow in delight when she had the oh-so-great pleasure of watching that damnable smirk fall off that jerk Hahn's face.

She had never liked him when he was engaged to Yue, what in the name of La and Tui made him think she would even be remotely willing to marry him? With that thought, she found it especially gratifying when the color started to drain from the fool's face because Zuko had strode up, grasped a spear and handled it with practiced ease. Hahn was a complete idiot for underestimating Zuko. The fire prince was ten times the warrior that Hahn would ever be. And ten times the man too.

Just the sight of Zuko made Katara's insides twitch. Toph of course didn't understand what the big deal was, but Suki sidled over to her and couldn't help but murmur in her ear. "Whoa Katara, I know I've never mentioned this before, but Zuko has one hell of a body."

"Really?" Toph asked "It just seems bigger to me."

"Big is a good way to describe it. And buff, and full of muscles, and…"

"I heard that you know." Sokka said with an irritated tone.

Suki flashed him a sheepish grin "Just teasing Katara. It's fun to watch her drool."

"I was not drooling."

"Sure you weren't sweetness," Toph added drolly "except I can hear your heartbeat galloping from here."

"Alright! He's impressive! Happy?" she said and turned to watch the duel, pretending her face wasn't burning.

Honestly, Zuko was more than impressive, he was… how could she describe it? He was just… so… yummy looking. She felt like she wanted to just eat him up he looked so delicious! How could she have forgotten what a magnificent male specimen he was?

Oh, right, the whole war thing. Plus the fact that she was only fourteen and her life had been one, long, out of control, delivery-chute ride. She was a little too distracted to really get all teenage fan-girl hysterical over boys. She knew on some level that Zuko was incredibly built because she had seen him before, but it was really only now that she was able to appreciate how great he looked. Or maybe it was the fact that he kissed like a demon that made her notice him more.

Katara would never remember the details of the duel because she kept getting distracted watching the light play over his broad shoulders, and the way those shoulders tapered down to his hips. She clearly remembered to two men grabbing a spear each and squaring off, but then Zuko started to move and things got a little fuzzy. Every now and then the crowd would make a collective sound and her attention would return for a while, but then it would revert to Zuko.

And that's when it hit her. She _wanted_ the firebender to win. Really wanted him to win and be hers. As much as she hated this whole custom and despised the way the elders in the Northern Tribe refused to treat her like an equal, she wanted Zuko to win her.

The crowd let out another collective gasp and Katara's mind snapped back to where it was supposed to be. She was shocked to find that somehow Hahn had managed to snap Zuko's spear into two half-length pieces. The jerk gave a triumphant grin like the ending had already been decided and most of the crowd were making noises that agreed with him but Aang had a different opinion.

"Hahn's lost."

The Water Tribe delegate that had originally come to talk to Katara scoffed "Impossible! Hahn's weapon has the longer reach and he is very talented with a spear."

"Yeah, if by talented, you mean he's better than a bunch of beginners." Sokka said snidely. "Sorry buddy, but Zuko's weapon of choice is the twin Dao, and he's more than talented with them."

Her brother was right; Zuko allowed Hahn a moment to believe he had the advantage before he readjusted his grip on each piece of his former spear. He swung them a few times judging their weight and balance before switching to a ready stance.

Hahn recovered from his surprise and tried to come in with an overhead strike, but Zuko blocked it with one hand and struck with the other in one fluid move. The hit was so controlled and precise, it hit against Hahn's wrist. The strike was almost done with a disdainful air, as if Hahn wasn't worth the effort of more than a sharp slap on the wrist. Judging by his face, the water tribe warrior felt the humiliation that was implied, and charged again. Again Zuko blocked Hahn and casually smacked him.

The same scenario repeated itself two more times before Katara started to feel a bit bad for Hahn. The jerk just wouldn't learn and accept that he was clearly out matched. Everyone watching could tell who the better fighter was, and who the winner was going to be, but the idiot just would not yield.

Finally, in a full rage, Hahn charged at him straight on, intent to skewer the fire prince through his chest. Zuko changed his stance so that he was standing to take the attack head on with one arm raised above his head and the other poised at his abdomen. Dozens of people in the crowd gasped as the spear point was on the verge of penetrating his chest when he snapped one forearm down and the other up, breaking off the tip. He then reversed his move a few more times, breaking off more pieces.

Katara, Aang and Sokka all started to laugh because they all recognized the move that Zuko had used on Sokka all those years ago the very first time they had met. Only this time instead of beating Hahn in the head with the butt of his own spear, Zuko pulled the blade of his own broken spear to Hahn's throat and demanded he yield.

"You know that move looks a lot cooler when it's performed on someone else." Sokka mused.

"Yield fool!" Zuko barked.

"Yield the Water princess to a firebender? Never! Go ahead and finish it." He said raising his chin and daring Zuko to slice open his neck.

"Katara was never yours. You and your prejudiced views have no place by her side."

Katara moved into the arena "He's right Hahn. Zuko is trying to help restore the balance that was destroyed over the past hundred years and your attitude does not help. Whether you yield or not, Zuko is the winner."

The water princess gently took Zuko's face into her hands, reached up onto her tip toes and kissed him gently in full view of everyone. Cheers erupted from the crowd and several offers of congratulations were given. Most of the water delegation and Katara's or Zuko's assorted suitors looked unhappy, but who cared about them?

Hahn of course just couldn't let them have their happy little ending. While Katara and Zuko were distracted with each other, he tried to stab at the fire prince's neck with the broken end of his spear.

Moron. Unlike him, Zuko and Katara were both seasoned fighters and neither would have turned their backs on him if they weren't sure someone else was watching them.

Almost instantly, Hahn found himself encased up to his chest in stone, a very sharp metal fan poised at his neck and a vortex of air holding his arm immobile.

"Hahn, you've lost. Get over it." Sokka stood there with his arms crossed looking down his nose at the jerk. If Katara didn't know any better, she'd think her brother was enjoying himself.

"Yeah and nobody likes a sore looser." Toph added, before flicking her wrist and pushing him out of the arena. "Where do you want me to dump the traa~aaaaaash?" the earthbender's voice ended in a puzzled alarmed sound and Katara watched as the small earthbender wobbled unsteadily.

"Toph!" Aang cried. His wife would have hit the ground except he had caught her as her knees gave out and picked her up.

The waterbender was by their side instantly. "Let's get her back to your room." She ordered.

* * *

The small group of friends rushed back to Toph and Aang's suite brushing off all attempts at assistance from outsiders. Once they were all in, they shut and locked the room's double doors.

"Alright Toph what's going on?" Katara asked while pulling her water out of her water skin to form water gloves for healing.

"Nothing. I just got a little dizzy- oh no." the earth bender bolted out of bed and sprinted past them towards the water closet where they could all hear her be violently sick.

Aang tried to distract everyone from the noise by filling them in on what had been happening. "She can't seem to completely recover. She tires easily, and this morning she was complaining that she had bad cramps."

Katara and Suki gave him matching suspicious looks, but they chose to wait until Toph reappeared looking a little worse for wear.

The two women approached the earthbender while she eased herself into bed.

"Toph, did you take that tea I gave you?" Suki asked while Katara once again pulled her water out and formed water gloves to check her patient.

"Of course I did." The earthbender grumbled, "I'm not an idiot… wait… you don't mean…"

It took all of a minute for Katara to pick up the subtle changes in the smaller woman's body. "Yes she does mean, and she's right." Katara said still examining her patient.

Toph tried to sit up but Suki gave her a quick jab that caused her to flop back on the bed boneless. "Ty Lee's moves can sure come in handy at times like these."

"But I'm not ready to do this yet." Toph said in an alarmed voice. The young woman lying on the bed looked so small and helpless at that moment that Katara didn't know what to say to her.

"Toph, you're pregnant. If you want me to, I can stop the changes in your body. It won't ruin your chances to have children in the future, but I really think you should talk to Aang about this." She whispered quietly. Suki gave her a surprised look but chose not say anything. It was obvious that Toph needed time to collect her thoughts and process what was happening to her.

Katara faced the rest of the men and told them Toph was alright, but she would need to stay in bed for the rest of the day. She, Zuko, Sokka and Suki left the room.

Once the group was out of earshot of the room, Zuko spoke up quietly enough for only them to hear. "She's pregnant, isn't she?" he asked the two women.

Katara stopped with a surprised look while Suki's eyes scanned the hallway for any possible eavesdroppers.

Zuko gave her a measured look. "Just because I'm a man, doesn't make me stupid about these things. Nor are all the people who saw her almost collapse. I wouldn't doubt that there are already over a dozen people speculating about her condition."

Katara gave a nod of understanding. "She's a little scared right now and she needs to talk to Aang."

"Hopefully before somebody else says something to him." Sokka said and he and his wife broke away from the other two to go have their midday meal.

Zuko got about twenty paces further before he stopped with a dazed look. Katara stopped and looked at him puzzled.

"I just realized that we're engaged." He said a little awed. He was still shirtless and darn it if Katara's hands didn't want to run up and down the length of his chest.

Katara gave him a feral grin. "That's right, soon you'll be all mine." She said, looping her arms around his neck.

"Are you sure you're okay with it?" he asked nervously, and seeing his worry over her acceptance of him was quite possibly one of the best things she had ever seen. She nodded and pulled him down for another kiss.

* * *

Inside their suite, Toph had apparently been coming to the same conclusion that the others had. People would already be speculating that she was pregnant and it would only be a matter of time before some well meaning idiot offered their congratulations or advice to Aang on his impending fatherhood.

Spirits, she was scared.

Terrified.

It went against her grain to just roll over and give in to fear, but pregnancy, children, there were just so many uncontrollable factors.

That was what scared her the most, having no control over what was going to happen.

"Toph, are you sure you're okay?" Aang asked gently. After the others had left, Toph had rolled on to her side and curled up in a loose ball while her husband rubbed her back.

She rolled over towards him, and curled around him, seeking the support his presence offered. "I'm pregnant." Oh merciful saints, even saying it was scary.

"What?"

"We are going to be parents. Clear enough for you?"

"But you drank that tea."

"Yeah, after we made love. I guess that stuff doesn't work so well that way." She snapped.

"Are you… okay about it?" he asked cautiously. Toph wanted to snap at him and yell at him and blame him for everything, but if they wanted even a hope of this marriage working, they were going to have to work together.

"I'm scared Aang."

"Why? I think you would make a really great mother."

"What if it's not what you wanted? What if it's like me?"

"An earthbender? I don't know, I guess-"

"No stupid!" she snapped "Blind! What if our baby if blind?"

Aang reached over and pulled her on to his lap, and hugged her tightly. "Your blindness didn't slow you down one bit. I can't picture any child you would have being any less stubborn or amazing."

Toph wasn't convinced, but she liked the sentiment anyway.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm scared too. I mean, we're only teenagers! I know that's not unheard of, but most people wait until they are at least twenty! Not to mention I don't exactly have the best track record for being responsible. I'm the one who ran away from being The Avatar!"

"You came back to do the job though." She said, but something about what he said planted a small kernel of suspicion in her.

"Hey Aang?"

"Yes?"

"You don't think my being pregnant even though we took precautions was a part of some elaborate meddling of the universe to help restore balance, do you?"

"How? Restoring balance is my job."

"I know, and one of the things the world needs is airbenders and so far, you're the only one."

"So you would end up pregnant no matter what precautions we took? That is a scary thought."

AN: I am sorry if you were hoping for more from this story, but the next chapter will only be an epilogue. From its inception, the story was always going to pretty much end here. But since you have all been so great, and so patient, the least I could do is write an epilogue to let you know how things turned out even though their carefully laid out plans for the future had all been ruined.


	14. Epilogue

The Best Laid Plans – Epilogue

Aang watched his twin sons as they tried to feed the turtleducks. Only being two, they did more squealing and jumping up and down excitedly, while scaring the animals than actually feeding them. When Aang advised them for the hundredth time that they must stay quiet, Kuzon squatted down with his bread pieces crushed tightly in his fist, while Gyatso gave up and just lobbed the bread at them.

Bored, Gyatso, who was the eldest, toddled over to his father with his arm up in the air "Ride!" he demanded, but Aang shook his head. "We can't go flying son, we are waiting for Uncle Sokka and Uncle Zuko."

"Someone call my name?" Sokka asked, coming around a cluster of shrubs and into view along with Zuko.

Aang looked at the fire prince, who looked a little frazzled "I'm surprised you were able to get away from your duties."

Sokka snorted "It's Katara he's trying to get away from. We left right in the middle of the 'trust fire nation healers to make childbirth into something complicated' speech."

Aang winced sympathetically. Even he had heard that speech more than once during his stay. He understood of course, Katara was a waterbender and a healer. Childbirth was a perfectly natural event. The Fire Nation had no such healers. Instead they had _doctors_ who went to special schools to study about medical conditions. Apparently, by their way of thinking, Katara giving birth to the next heir to the nation was a medical condition.

Sadly it seemed to fall to Zuko to act as a referee between the two before his wife did something violent to the doctors. Now that Toph and Suki were there, they gave him a bit of respite in placating his enormously pregnant wife, but peace wasn't going to be restored until she finally gave birth.

Over by the duck pond Gyatso had decided to find his own entertainment by splashing the pond water with his hand. Terrifying the turtleducks into fleeing and soaking both him and his brother.

"Gyatso!" he gave a strangle cry while using air bending to pull his sons away from the water. Once they were out of disaster's way he used water bending to dry their clothes. Again his eldest son shot up his hands and demanded to go flying. "Gyatso, behave. Do you want me to call mommy?" His son's grey eyes opened very wide and he shook his head adamantly. Out of the two of them Toph was apparently the scarier one.

Since the turtleducks had swam away, Kuzon moved up to Sokka and had the sudden need to be a part of the conversation "Mommy has babies in her tummy." he announced proudly.

With a gentle indulgent smile that adults almost always used on children, Sokka kneeled down to him. "Yes, yes she does. My wife and sister also have babies in their tummies. As a matter of fact, my sister who is married to this guy here is going to have her baby any day now." He said while nodding his head over at Zuko's direction. Then to the other two men he asked, "Hey how did we end up with all three of them pregnant at the same time?"

Both of Aang's brows shot up at him surprised and Zuko gave him a bland glare that clearly said 'you seriously don't expect me to tell you how I got your sister pregnant do you?'

"Err… that didn't quite come out the way I meant. What I meant was we should have planned this better because they are scary when they are all pregnant together."

Aang rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I don't think I actually have a say in it. Toph and I have been really careful and she still ended up pregnant with another set of twins. I'm beginning to think she's right that the universe plans for her to repopulate the air nation by herself."

"Well not _exactly_ by herself." Sokka said with a leer while picking Kuzon up. Aang rolled his eyes at him and picked up Gyatso and the small group moved over to a table that Zuko's servants were setting up with a garden lunch. Just as they were about to start eating, they were interrupted by a deep grumbling sound and Toph appeared straight out of the ground before them.

"Yo, Sparky, you're needed."

Zuko groaned in mock despair. "Oh no. What happened now?"

"Katara's in labor."

"What? Now?" he asked looking around frantically as if his wife was going to pop out of thin air.

"Actually, she's been having contractions for some time now and has been hiding them from those doctors of yours, but now that her water broke, she can't hide it anymore."

"Damn, I better get up there before she kills one of them for trying to do their job. Remind me again why I agreed to marry her?" he grumbled while striding off towards the palace. His long legs were eating up the distance which was the only thing that showed just how nervous he was.

Sokka decided to go with him and passed Kuzon on to his mother. "Don't you remember? You won her in a fight. Maybe you should have lost on purpose!" he finished teasingly while almost running after the much taller man. He shot Aang a cocky wink and a wave before he disappeared out of sight.

Aang leaned over past his sons and kissed the tip of his wife's nose. "Hello love, care to join us for lunch?"

Toph's face blushed at bit and she tried to hide her embarrassment by saying she hoped she wouldn't just turn around and throw it back up.

His wife was still wasn't quite comfortable with public displays of affection or with him openly declaring his feelings for her. At night in the privacy of their own room, she was more than willing to accept his feelings and return them –ardently- but she still got shy when she thought someone else might see.

As he predicted, in the almost three years they had been married, Aang had flat out fallen in love with his wife. She made him laugh, occasionally made him want to cry, rooted him to something solid when he was feeling adrift, and was a steady presence at his side that he could always lean on. She completed and balanced him in a way he needed and adored.

Motherhood hadn't slowed her down at all. When their sons had been born many were worried and offered to help out but Toph stubbornly wanted to prove that she was more than capable to take care of herself and her children.

In his opinion, she probably did better than most seeing mothers. There wasn't a place anywhere in any air temple that their little terrors… err… children could run off to that she didn't know about, and couldn't divert them back from.

Gyatso was the eldest and their trouble maker. He, like his namesake, got bored easily and always ended up getting into trouble without even trying. Kuzon was a much deeper thinker but he was almost always willing to go along with his brother in whatever trouble he was getting into.

Even as chubby toddlers they had the classic long slim features of airbenders and were already showing basic air bending talent. Aang had been trying to teach some of the refugees air bending with only minimal success and it was painfully obvious that the bulk of airbenders in the future would be from his progeny.

He couldn't say he really liked it, but he would always be proud of his family.

The Avatar watched with a mixture of disgust and amusement as his sons smeared the fruits and vegetables that were supposed to be their lunch, just about everywhere except into their mouths. Toph did her best to try and slip a few bits in, but the majority of their lunch was on them rather than in them. The pair of adults tried their best to clean up their children, when a piercing scream traveled on the wind from Katara's birthing room.

"Sounds like it's almost over. Should we start heading over there?" Toph asked.

Aang only thought about it for a moment. "No there will be plenty of time later. Let's let Zuko spend some time alone with his family. I kind of like being with you guys."

"You're always with us."

"I know."

"You're such a sap."

"Probably, but I love you."

She blushed a bit and ducked her head "Same here."

* * *

Done! Done, done, done! Hurray! Finally! And all that jazz!

Thank you to all of you who came with me on this little journey! I love you guys! You have all been completely and totally wonderful!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!


End file.
